With UK-EU trade talks having resumed earlier this month, the Federation of Small Businesses’ national chairman, Mike Cherry, said: “The transition period will soon be at an end but the small firms that make up 99% of our business community still have no clear sense of what they will be transitioning to.

“The economy is in a very different place today compared to the last time we were told to prepare for a no-deal outcome. Small firms don’t have the time or money to get across new bureaucracy or stockpile. Negotiators need to agree a small-business-friendly deal, and swiftly.

“Unlike all other major UK Free Trade Agreements, the draft terms of the EU deal don’t contain a dedicated small business chapter outlining how it will benefit firms of all sizes. We urgently need progress on this front.

“Given that small firms have been flat out managing Coronavirus-linked disruption for the past six months, the Government needs to step in with substantial financial support to assist with transition preparations.

“Transition vouchers mark a sensible way forward: set sums that can be spent on expertise, tech and training that will ease the small business community’s move to a new relationship with the EU.

“If the Government wants firms to take preparatory action over the next few months, it needs to help them to do so. Business minds are, understandably, still very much focused on Coronavirus.”