Angela Merkel on Monday signalled for the first time that she was prepared to change her controversial refugee policy in the wake of heavy losses to the resurgent far-Right in regional elections.

“If I knew what change in refugee policy the people in Germany want, I would be prepared to consider it,” Mrs Merkel said.

“If I could, I would go back in time to be better prepared for the refugee crisis in 2015, for which we were rather unprepared.”

Mrs Merkel was speaking at a specially arranged press conference to address her Christian Democrat (CDU) party’s disastrous performance in Berlin state elections at the weekend.