British bosses have slammed the Department of Trade and Industry's brief as "vague and without content" and accused it of being too weak face up to rival ministries in the interests of business.

The Confederation of British Industry wants the DTI to "take on" other government departments and believes that it "has not been seen as sufficiently powerful to represent the needs of business in the face of other departments' agendas".

And bosses were dismayed when the DTI failed to stand up to Gordon Brown over the climate change levy, which has hit many manufacturing businesses.

"The lead department was very much the Treasury, and there was no countervailing force putting the argument for international competitiveness," claims the CBI.

In a letter delivered last week to trade and industry secretary, Patricia Hewitt, the CBI claimed that the DTI's structure "mitigates against effective understanding of the competitiveness agenda" and its attempts to support business are poorly communicated, bureaucratically administered and patchily delivered.

Some senior Whitehall officials and many of Britain's bosses are said to think that the DTI cannot be both a business "champion" and regulate employment relations that conflict with competition policy.

"We feel that is the one department that has the opportunity to really push the wealth creation message in government...and frankly we do need much more championing of the business message within government and not so much of the hand of regulation," said CBI chief, Digby Jones.

He also said that the department had sometimes been "offensive and wrong" about business, singling out the DTI's campaign accusing firms of "ripping off Britain" for special criticism.

"We are more supportive of the DTI than damning, overall, but we feel there are serious issues that should be addressed," he said.