A leaked document shows the Government has marked the retail industry as “low priority” for its impending Brexit negotiations.

The list categorises Britain’s industries into low, medium and high priority for negotiations, giving an indication of how much attention they will require in the Brexit process.

Retail, along with steel, medical and education, have all fallen into the bottom category, while banking, food and drink and agriculture have been marked as high priority.

Fisheries and the chemicals industry sit in the middle tier.

It is understood that the list, obtained by The Times, does not reflect the Government’s view of how important a sector is, simply how much attention it will require.

A Government spokesman said: “We do not comment on partial accounts of leaked documents.

“We have been doing detailed work to prepare for the negotiation, analysing more than 50 sectors and cross-cutting issues.”