Theresa May’s lurch to the left could damage Britain’s prospect of winning more trade deals after Brexit because it risks showing the Prime Minister is keen to intervene in the economy - rather than promoting the free market policies which match trade agreements.

Trade experts caution that policies such as the energy price cap, the industrial strategy and a renewed target to slash immigration could tell the rest of the world that Britain is not truly open for business.

“The challenge is going to be that some of the policy direction we’re hearing from the outgoing government and in the Conservative party manifesto around industrial policy is at odds with that open trading agenda,” warned Victoria Hewson, a lawyer at the Legatum Institute Special Trade Commission.

“If we’re going to be moving in the direction of market intervention and price caps, that is going to give us potentially some difficulty with trading partners who will look at those kind of policies with some suspicion.”