The high street stalwart plans to borrow cash through the government’s Covid Corporate Financing Facility and has also reached an agreement with its banks to “substantially relax or remove covenant conditions” on its existing £1.1bn credit facility.

M&S said the moves will “secure liquidity” for the duration of the coronavirus crisis and “underpin the recovery strategy and accelerated transformation” during 2021.

The retailer admitted that the health emergency has meant its clothing and home business would be “severely constrained” by lockdown and warned that there were likely to be “highly uncertain trading conditions” during a “prolonged exit period” from those government measures.