Former East 17 singer Brian Harvey has spoken of his "desperate" battle with mental illness.

Harvey, from Walthamstow, admitted suffering from depression for over a decade in an interview by Labour MP Simon Danczuk for LBC radio, which aired last night.

The 40-year-old singer discussed an incident five weeks ago, when he stormed out of hospital and contemplated suicide.

Harvey said: "I could have walked out of that place that night, walked off and jumped off a bridge, because, I tell you what: I felt like it."

"We need a walk-in centre specifically designed for when, in the middle of the night, someone thinks ‘I am going to hang myself’ or ‘I am going to a forest and jump out of a tree with a noose around my neck’, because I have thought of all these things.

"Desperation takes over."

Harvey claimed that he found life difficult during the festive period, due to East 17’s hit song Stay Another Day being played frequently around Christmas.

"We sold 18 million records and the frustrating thing for me is that I have to sit there every Christmas and listen to myself while I don’t even have the money for a Christmas dinner," Harvey said.

"I am sitting here eating a cold chicken burger on Christmas Day.

"You have got this number one record … I am just rattling around in a cold house with no food, on my own, with my record being played – but you are just a no one."

Mr Danczuk criticised the music industry for not offering enough support to its artists.

In a tweet following the interview, he wrote: "Encouraged by support shown for Brian Harvey.

"The music industry needs to wake up to mental health problems in same way that football is." 

Harvey was sacked from East 17 in 1997 due to comments he made in an interview about taking 12 ecstasy pills at once.

In 2005, Harvey was admitted to hospital after he was run over by his own car.

Earlier this year, Harvey posted a video of himself smashing his gold and platinum records in an outburst against the music industry.