Disagreements over beef and cheese have led the UK and Canada to suspend trade negotiations.

The Canadians had been pushing the Government to relax a ban on hormone-treated beef, a sticking point for negotiators.

The two nations have been negotiating for the last two years after Britain left the European Union, with trade continuing largely under the same deal originally brokered when the UK was a member of the bloc.

A time-limited side agreement had been in place protecting cheese and cars from higher tariffs, but protections for the former had expired at the end of December leaving British producers facing higher duties of 245%.

Downing Street said the Government remained open to restarting talks, but only if terms were favourable.

"We will only negotiate deals that deliver for the British people, and we reserve the right to pause negotiations where progress is not being made. We're open to restarting talks with Canada in the future," a spokeswoman for the Prime Minister said.

She said that the benefit of leaving the EU was that the UK was "able to insist on the detail of each and every deal to ensure that it works specifically in the UK's interests".

NFU Scotland president Martin Kennedy said: “This is the first time under any of the post-Brexit FTAs that the UK Government has held the line on existing market access barriers for agri-food products and it must mark a permanent change in attitude from the Government.

“Until now, the Government’s track record on post-Brexit Free Trade Agreements to date is one of failure. It failed to protect Scottish farming interests, failed to properly engage with stakeholders, and failed to provide Parliament with proper scrutiny on such deals once agreed.

“Post-Brexit trade deals with major agricultural and manufacturing economies like Australia and New Zealand saw our agricultural interests and access to our food and drink sector used as cheap bargaining chips to secure what is seen as more lucrative market access for other sectors. There was little or nothing in such trade deals for Scottish food or farming.

“With Australia and New Zealand completed; domestic producers are increasingly exposed to being undermined by growing volumes of produce derived from very different agricultural systems that operate with very different cost structures with little in return. This robust approach on a Canadian deal is something that both Defra and the Department for International Trade must permanently adopt in the future.”

Minette Batters, president of the National Farmers' Union of England and Wales, praised the Government for having "stuck to its line and not given way".

But the British Chambers of Commerce said the suspension of talks was "unwelcome news".

William Bain, its trade policy head, said: "For our dairy exporters and parts of our manufacturing industry the loss of key trade preferences puts them in a worse position than before 2020.

"Government must help these sectors through difficult times and open up new markets for our goods and services."

Canada's trade minister Mary Ng said the Canadian "government will never agree to a deal that isn't good for our workers, farmers and businesses".