She said: “The consistently negative reactions from the population show that we were wrong.

“We lost trust instead of restoring it, which should give us cause to pause and rethink the appointment.”

A CSU spokesman said it was open to the idea of renegotiating the deal in the face of the resulting criticism.

He explained: “The party leader doesn’t rule out talks.

“New consultations make sense if a consensual solution is possible and we are thinking about one at the moment.”