A crackdown on "time- wasting" legal challenges to Government policies will be promised by David Cameron in a bid to boost economic recovery.

Opponents will be given less time to apply for judicial review, face higher fees and see the chances to appeal halved under proposals to be published by the Ministry of Justice.

The Prime Minister will tell business leaders he is determined to "get a grip" on the process after the number of applications almost trebled in a decade. And he will compare deficit-reduction efforts to the fight against Hitler, suggesting Whitehall rules must be "circumvented" as during wartime to speed up decision-making.

Plans for the shake-up of the judicial review process are due to be announced by Mr Cameron in his speech to business leaders at the CBI annual conference.

Downing Street said they were aimed at making people "think twice about time-wasting" after application numbers rose from 160 in 1975 to 11,200 last year.

Officials denied undermining the ability to challenge the decisions of public authorities, insisting the aim was to end unnecessary delays and cut out weak cases submitted "even when the applicant knows they have no chance".

However, they declined to give any details of the sorts of cases considered "spurious".

Mr Cameron will complain judicial review had become a "massive growth industry" that is delaying action and costing taxpayers too much money.