THE number of people claiming unemployment benefits in Haringey has reached an 11-year high, new figures have shown.

Residents in the borough claiming Job Seekers Allowance rose for the fourth consecutive month in February to 10,159, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The figures show eight per cent of the adult population of Tottenham are on the dole, a fifth of which is under-24-year-olds.

The constituency is now the tenth highest for unemployment benefit claims in the UK, and Labour MP David Lammy has called for the Government to designate Tottenham an enterprise zone.

He said: “Once again the unemployment figures have shown how unfairly disadvantaged Tottenham is in today’s labour market.

“This corner of north London needs a game changer to regenerate the area. The Government needs to give those bearing the brunt of the job crisis a real chance to find work.”

“In advance of the forthcoming budget, I am urging George Osborne to make Tottenham an Enterprise Zone.”

Inside an Enterprise Zone, taxes will be lowered and restrictions on growth stripped back to encourage businesses to flourish and for the number of jobs to increase.

National figures show a 27,000 increase in unemployment in the last quarter, with numbers reaching 2.5m across the UK.

Chris Grayling, Tory employment minister, said the rise in unemployment is a “real concern”, said it “underlines the need to press ahead with policies which will further stimulate growth in the private sector”.