The tense negotiations to form Germany’s next government entered their final stretch on Friday night, as Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union floated new income tax cut proposals to break the deadlock in talks with the liberal Free Democrats, the chancellor’s future junior coalition ally.

Ahead of what was expected to be a long weekend of talks, Steffen Kampeter, one of Ms Merkel’s key negotiators, said the CDU would agree to income tax cuts of €20bn (£18bn, $30bn) over four years – more than the €15bn it campaigned for before the election but less than the €35bn the FDP is demanding.