Mrs Truss yesterday announced her resignation after just a month and a half as prime minister, having lost political authority after being forced to row back on her radical economic plans.

The Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE), which represents professional consultancies and engineering companies operating in the social and economic infrastructure sectors, issued a call for political stability.

“The backdrop of political uncertainty of the last few weeks has made it almost impossible for businesses to plan, further compounding the macro-economic challenges we are facing,” CEO Stephen Marcos Jones said.

“It is vital that the process to appoint a new prime minister is both decisive and swift, and that we return to a more measured political environment which gives businesses full confidence in the decisions taken by our government.”

David Hopkins, CEO of Timber Development UK, added: “Political instability does no one any favours and it is vital we establish a stable government as soon as possible. In particular, we can’t let political turmoil damage crucial progress towards a net-zero construction industry following so much progress and investment in the past decade.

“This is an issue to which every part of the timber sector is currently committed and we have had positive conversations with new ministers only recently about how our sector can contribute to critical carbon reduction targets.

“Our hope is that a new prime minister does not mean a major reshuffle and yet another reset in ministerial appointments crucial to the construction industry. Following our commitment at COP26 to a 68% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030, a consistent policy environment is more important than ever.”