David Cameron and George Osborne have expressed “frustration” that the Home Office has not progressed with reducing visa bureaucracy for Chinese tourists, amid concern that London is failing to attract wealthy Asian travellers.

Theresa May, home secretary, this year has been under pressure from cabinet colleagues and retailers to streamline the paperwork so that potential Chinese tourists can apply for a UK visa at the same time as requesting one for Europe’s border-free Schengen area. France alone receives at least 25 per cent more Chinese tourists each year than Britain does.

“There was very much a view that this is a priority issue and more progress needed to be made,” said one Downing Street aide after Tuesday’s cabinet meeting, which focused on growth ahead of the chancellor’s Autumn Statement.