The joint twice-yearly report published by Germany’s five leading economic think-tanks on the state of the economy indicated last week that a no-deal Brexit might shave around 0.4% off the country’s gross domestic product in the first year.

That chimes with other forecasts, and would amount to a significant hit for an economy that will only grow 0.5% this year, the slowest pace in the EU bar Italy. Germany, Europe’s largest exporter, is bound to take a hit from a severe disruption of trade relations between the UK and the rest of Europe.