Angela Merkel was facing anger from within her own party on Thursday over the terms of a new coalition agreement.

Leading voices in the Christian Democrat party (CDU) accused Mrs Merkel of paying too high a price for to secure the support of other parties to keep her in office.

There is growing discontent in the party at the number of key ministries Mrs Merkel has handed over to her coalition partners, and particularly at the loss of the powerful finance ministry to the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD).

“There is very little enthusiasm in the party over the loss of ministries,” Daniel Günther, the regional prime minister of Schleswig-Holstein said. “The Social Democrats have done very well for themselves.”

The loss of ministries “cut to the heart of the CDU”, Carsten Linnemann, the chairman of the party’s small businesses association said.