May, who attended a traditional tea ceremony with Abe soon after flying into Kyoto, Japan’s former imperial capital, said she would be asking Japan to push ahead with talks to seal a wide-ranging EU-Japan trade deal, with the idea this could then be used as a model for a British deal.

Speaking before the tea ceremony, which was followed by a dinner and talks with Abe, May said this model could be used to speed up post-Brexit trade arrangements with other countries.