Germany has halted its internet surveillance for the US’s National Security Agency (NSA) in response to a row over the BND intelligence agency’s co-operation with Washington.

German conservatives warned their Social Democrat (SPD) partners not to score points in a row over the activities of the BND intelligence agency after an attack on Chancellor Angela Merkel by the SPD chief threatened unity in the coalition.

A new eurosceptical party is on the brink of entering the German parliament for the first time, an opinion poll showed, casting doubt on Chancellor Angela Merkel’s bid to maintain her centre- right coalition and complicating her eurozone policy.