18:09

The chancellor, Philip Hammond, has moved quickly to quell business anger over the failure of May to get the deal ratified.

All the main business groups, including the CBI, the British Chambers of Commerce and dozens of chief executives, were on the conference call at 9pm, in which Hammond expressed “disappointment” at the result.

One source on the call said it was “constructive”; that the “tone was realistic” about the damage this was inflicting on the economy. However, he was hammered by business leaders over parliament’s refusal to take no deal off the table.

“This was the single biggest question he was asked,” said the source just hours after the CBI, the BCC, the Institute of Directors and the Federation of Small Businesses called on the government to urgently remove that option for the sake of Britain.

Also on the call were the business secretary, Greg Clark, and the Brexit secretary, Stephen Barclay. A source said: