Britain’s businesses have told the Government to take the hard choices in Brexit as soon as possible to get a “bespoke deal which works for us”, creating more certainty for investment and boosting the economy – rather than “kicking the can down the road”.

The Confederation of British Industry campaigned against Brexit in 2016, but its boss Carolyn Fairbairn said the priority now is getting a good deal which will renew business confidence.

“When I hear talk about ‘kicking cans down the road’ it sets off real alarm bells,” she told an audience at the Institute for Government, praising the recent progress made in the negotiations and calling for more to follow quickly.

“My members are saying, ‘give us certainty, we need those hard choices to be taken’. The mood music in business has moved from real worry about a ‘no deal’ to more worry about no decision, and what that means for investment going forward. We would like to see those hard decisions taken.”

The agreement on the transition to Brexit included progress in large swathes of areas, but did not include any deal on key topics including the Irish border.