WOULD-BE entrepreneurs in Hampshire have been banned from applying for Government cash under a new scheme to help budding businesses get up and running.

It’s the latest in a series of blows to the south’s businesses that have seen the region left out of measures to help firms beat the slump.

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith yesterday announced a New Enterprise Allowance to provide six months of benefits, mentoring and loans, to unemployed people who start a new business.

Mr Duncan Smith hopes it will help 10,000 firms by next year and could be worth up to £2,000 per person.

However, the scheme’s small print states it will only be available “in parts of the country where the recession hit hardest” – Whitehall code for the north of England. A Tory source confirmed that only people “outside London and the south east” would be eligible for the scheme.

Mr Duncan Smith, unveiled the Enterprise Allowance at the Tory conference.

Jimmy Chestnutt, chief executive of Hampshire Chamber of Commerce, told the Daily Echo: “This is a disappointing announcement. The Government should be encouraging development in this part of the country, so that we can help lead the economy into recovery, and not just be concentrating on deprived regions.”

In July, ministers were accused by the Federation of Small Businesses of “discriminating” against new firms in the south east – along with London and the east of England – for excluding them from a National Insurance contributions holiday worth up to £50,000.

Last month, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg warned the south it would shoulder a bigger share of pain over the next five years than it did during previous economic crises.

Mr Clegg also admitted that the £1billion Regional Growth Fund would be focused “specifically” on areas of the country that had been “dependent” on public sector jobs, like the north east of England and Northern Ireland.