Hopes were raised for an end to Germany’s political impasse on Sunday, as Horst Seehofer, leader of Angela Merkel's sister CSU party, said a renewed grand coalition is "the best option” for the country.

In a difficult week, chancellor Angela Merkel fought to save her political career and avoid snap elections, after negotiations between her Christian Democrats (CDU) and smaller parties broke down more than four weeks after they began, following Germany’s federal election.

The Social Democrats (SPD) had previously ruled out entering into another “grand coalition” with Mrs Merkel, after it suffered its worst ever result in the elections in September. However Martin Schulz, leader of SPD, back-pedalled and offered Mrs Merkel talks on Friday.

Mr Seehofer has said he welcomes the U-turn. "An alliance between the conservatives and the SPD is the best option for Germany, better in any case than ‘Jamaica', new elections, or a minority government," Mr Seehofer told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper on Sunday.