A NORTH-EAST MP yesterday said Prime Minister David Cameron has treated the North-East with disdain.

During Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Darlington MP Jenny Chapman asked Mr Cameron to name three growing North-East businesses.

Mrs Chapman asked him for reassurance that the North-East had nothing to fear from the public sector cuts and asked him to name “just three” businesses whose workforce will be increasing in the coming 12 months.

Mr Cameron replied by referring to 38 UK businesses that are backing the Government’s cuts agenda.

He said the future of renewable energy and the green investment bank would help the North-East.

Mrs Chapman said yesterday: “My point wasn’t that I didn’t know three businesses but that he doesn’t know. He showed complete disdain for the North-East.”

James Wharton, the Conservative MP for Stockton South, said Mrs Chapman could not expect the PM to know expanding businesses from all areas of the country.

He said: “This is a cheap point-scoring question. If she can’t find three expanding businesses, she should use her own research rather than wasting valuable time in Prime Minister’s Questions.”

He said that this month, more than 4,000 private sector jobs had been created across the region, including at businesses such as Katmex, CT UK and Balfour Beatty, all on Teesside.