The UK government is extending the bid deadline for the £4 billion sale of its Edinburgh-based UK Green Investment Bank by almost two months because potential buyers need more time amid the upheaval that has followed the EU referendum vote, according to Bloomberg News.

Potential bidders for the GIB are said to include Macquarie Capital and a group led by Sustainable Development Capital LLP.

The deadline for bids will now be in early September instead of July 27 — a change that was almost inevitable even before the Brexit vote due to the complexity of the deal, Bloomberg reported.

Greg Barker, former minister for Energy & Climate Change, Tweeted: “With so much uncertainty in markets HMG must now slam the brakes on GIB privatisation.”

Bloomberg quoted Sepi Golzari-Munro, head of the UK programme at the environmental group E3G, as saying: “The Brexit result means years of uncertainty in the UK’s relationship with Europe and potentially a major economic downturn.

“The GIB must now be used to double down on UK infrastructure investment, as part of a wider stimulus package.”

Bloomberg quoted Barker as saying: “It’s not the time to sell down its stake in entirety.

“The government needs to think about retaining a stake in it to show that it’s still got skin in the game while they work out what the green agenda is going to be.”