Yorkshire and Humberside entrepreneurs are calling on Chancellor Gordon Brown to increase their sleep in the spring Budget.

Entrepreneurs in Yorkshire are leading the nation in sleepless nights.

A new survey published by Barclays showed that 38 per cent of the region's venturers work late every day - double the national average of 19 per cent.

Though the UK attracted record numbers of entrepreneurs last year, the survey shows many of these innovators are often unprepared for the sleepless nights when it actually comes to running their own company.

With one-in-ten small business owners waking up every night worrying about some aspect of their business, entrepreneurs are calling on the Chancellor to give them back their sleep as part of his spring Budget.

The Barclays study found that the biggest worries keeping owners awake at night were cash flow (43 per cent) and employee issues (31 per cent).

Other concerns making them sleepless included work life balance, keeping up with new regulations and how best to finance their business.

The study also revealed that more than a third (36 per cent) of business owners are burning the midnight oil at least three to four times a week, with entrepreneurs in the North West, Yorkshire and Humberside working the latest into the evening.

Karen Swainston, Barclays Yorkshire liaison manager, said: "These figures are startling and with the economy expected to slow this year small business owners will have to work harder to get business in.

"Our entrepreneurs are losing sleep and as a consequence they may be losing their business edge."

Updated: 10:34 Monday, March 07, 2005