Cabinet minister Philip Hammond has hit out at big company bosses accusing them of "whingeing" and refusing to invest in jobs.

The Defence Secretary claimed large firms were unwilling to take risks despite sitting on a "large pile of cash".

His comments came after Foreign Secretary William Hague told business to stop complaining about the Government - insisting the only answer to Britain's economic woes was hard work.

Ministers were clearly stung by criticisms from business leaders that the Queen's Speech last week contained nothing to stimulate the stagnant economy.

"Large businesses are sitting on a pretty large pile of cash," Mr Hammond told BBC Radio 5 Live's Pienaar's Politics.

"What we have got to try and do is persuade businesses to take the plunge, to just use some of their cash pile, to take a judgment about where demand is going, where the economy is going in the future, and be prepared to back their judgment with investment in British jobs and capacity in the British economy.

"That's what the private sector is about, that's why people in private business can legitimately say they should make profits because they do take risks - it is about persuading them to get out there and invest and take some risks."

Asked if he was accusing businesses of whingeing, he replied: "They are, yes, I suppose in a way whingeing about it."

Earlier, Mr Hague delivered a blunt message to the country's bosses that they should stop complaining and get on with the business of wealth creation.

His comments, in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, were a direct riposte to business leaders who criticised the lack of measures for economic growth in the Queen's Speech.

"There's only one growth strategy: work hard," he said. "I think they should be getting on with the task of creating more of those jobs and more of those exports, rather than complaining about it."

Asked if his comments could be compared to Lord Tebbit's "on your bike" message to the unemployed in the 1980s, Mr Hague said: "It's more than that. It's 'Get on the plane, go and sell things overseas, go and study overseas'.

"It's much more than getting on the bike, the bike didn't go that far."

Mr Hammond denied ministers were seeking a confrontation with business - traditionally seen as allies of the Conservative Party - insisting his words were no more than "gentle chiding".

"These are grown up people with pretty robust words themselves occasionally. I think that they can take it and they can dish it out," he said.

It was important, however, he said, that the Government's commitment to support business was reciprocated if the economy was to recover.

"The Government can't provide this stimulus because of the deficit situation, households can't provide this stimulus because they are still over-leveraged," he said.

"The only part of the economy that has the ability to provide that stimulus is the larger corporate sector."

Shadow business secretary Chuka Ummuna said that ministers should take responsibility for their mistakes and not try to put the blame on business.

"Business leaders have told ministers that this Government has lost the plot and urgently needs to work with them to create the conditions to foster private sector growth and to provide a more certain policy environment to give business the confidence to invest," he said.

"The truth is that this Tory-led Government's disastrous policies have put Britain into recession when it inherited an economy that was growing and now they are seeking to dump the blame on business for their economic incompetence."