DAVID CAMERON will today try to revive troubled plans for bringing badly-needed private sector jobs to the North as he hosts a key summit with business leaders.

The Prime Minister will meet around 80 senior figures driving forward new “local enterprise partnerships” (LEPs), including representatives from Merseyside and Cheshire.

Mr Cameron will ask for progress reports on strategies for LEPs to take over responsibility for winning investment and jobs, as regional development agencies (RDAs) are controversially wound down.

And he will explain how a new £1m-a-year “capacity fund” – hastily unveiled after criticism the LEPs were being starved of cash – can help them “address gaps in intelligence”.

The summit marks the first time Mr Cameron has put his personal authority behind much-criticised plans for economic growth in the English regions.

The importance of the event will be underlined by the presence of deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, Business Secretary Vince Clegg and Communities Secretary Eric Pickles.

It will be staged amid signs of growing unhappiness among business leaders, some of whom have attacked LEPs as “toothless talking shops”.

Last month, the director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce warned that employers would walk away from the partnerships without evidence that they can deliver rapid results. David Frost said: “The worry is that there are no resources and they are not quite sure what their powers are.

“The message is that if they don’t start to deliver pretty fast, the business community will walk.”