Germany’s main centre-Left party has been rocked after one of its most prominent figures called for the country’s leading brands to be put under collective ownership.

Kevin Kühnert, the leader of a Momentum-style grassroots movement in the Social Democratic Party (SPD), said German industrial giants such as BMW and Siemens should be owned jointly by their workers.

“There is nothing wrong with the BMW brand. The only question is why BMW should belong to a few people who have the sole right to the profits,” Mr Kühnert said in an interview with Germany’s Zeit newspaper.

“The distribution of profits must be democratically controlled. That excludes a capitalist owner. Without a form of collectivisation, it is unthinkable to overcome capitalism.”

Political opponents accused Mr Kühnert of trying to drag the country back to the dark days of communist East Germany, and his party colleagues rushed to dissociate themselves from his remarks.