Now outside the EU, the UK is free to develop its own subsidy regime although, in practice, this freedom is limited by the need to reach agreement with trading partners – historically, agricultural subsidies in particular have proven difficult to handle in trade talks.

The UK government has now brought forward a new Subsidy Control Bill to regulate use of subsidies in the post-EU period.

The government vision is for a flexible and “lean” subsidy system, which will support broader government policy (eg: development of “green” industry).

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has emphasised that the subsidy system will not be used to “bail out” non-viable businesses.