Unaccountable and ineffective civil servants are internal enemies, stifling the Government's attempts to foster much-needed economic growth and regional rebalancing, former trade supremo, Lord Heseltine, has claimed.

In a speech made in Manchester to launch a private sector-led business support network last week, the veteran peer urged officials to take a wartime approach to policy making. Lord Heseltine said: ‘We are all in this together and government needs to put its own house in order as it exhorts others to do the same. In war, the threat is posed by the enemy at the gate. Perhaps we need to recognise that today, the enemy is within the fortress.'