The new CBI president has called for the civil service to live up to promises of radical reform.

Making his first major speech since taking up the role, John Sutherland said senior managers must overcome union and workforce resistance if serious efficiency savings are to be made.

Ahead of this month's comprehensive spending review, in which the chancellor is expected to unveil Sir Peter Gershon proposals for Whitehall job cuts, the business leader called for private sector-style productivity.

The Cadbury Schweppes chairman argued that companies are forced to take difficult decisions every day and that ministers must not duck them.

He predicted that wide-ranging plans for savings in government departments may be emasculated by concessions if unions have their way.

"Resistance to change is a pressure firms face every day - and one that the permanent secretaries and other civil servants must tackle if they want to achieve real improvement," Sutherland told a CBI audience in Birmingham.

"Senior civil service managers, as well as their political masters, must grasp the nettle of reform."