Germany has warned British MPs to be responsible and support Theresa May’s Brexit deal in next week’s meaningful vote, as the Irish government said it would not block a “justified” British request to extend the Article 50 deadline yesterday.

Simon Coveney and Heiko Maas, the foreign ministers of Ireland and Germany, were speaking in Dublin the day after the Telegraph exclusively revealed that UK officials had “put out feelers” about extending the Brexit deadline beyond 29 March 2019.

Mr Maas said now was "not the time" to consider any extension to the two year negotiation period because British MPs could, against all expectations, decide to back the agreement struck by the prime minister and Brussels.

He said that a no deal Brexit might hit Germans jobs “and that is something that we intend to prevent at any possible cost”. One way to avoid no deal would be to extend Article 50, which would need a British request and the support of the EU-27.

“There is too much at stake to take this lightly. We urge our British friends to act responsibly and unite behind the agreement that we have spent so much time and effort negotiating,” Mr Maas added.