Two out of three businesses believe the Government has failed to communicate post-Brexit trade plans properly.

An online poll of 1,000 businesses revealed 45 per cent of respondents felt the Government had done a very poor job of outlining its plans.

Another 21 per cent rated it as poor with just eight per cent saying the communication was very good, 20 per cent rating it good.

And 28 per cent of businesses said they had received no communication about any trade agreement with one in four saying there had not been much information provided.

The survey follows the launch of a Government campaign entitled Time Is Running Out urging businesses to prepare for the January 1 deadline following the collapse of negotiations last week.

Thirty per cent of businesses said they were poorly or very poorly prepared with one in five say they were well prepared.

Confederation of British Industry director general Dame Carolyn Fairbairn told Sky News: "Brexit was knocked off the front page of every board agenda in the country, so we can't expect businesses to be fully prepared and I think frankly the same is also true of government.

"We are letting our members and businesses know to prepare for those, but honestly I think the massive responsibility is on negotiators on both sides to get a deal.

"This really is jobs and livelihoods at stake on both sides of the Channel."