The IS had been seeking disqualification orders that would have hindered the five from acting as directors, however, it dropped the civil action on Friday afternoon. A 13-week trial had been due to begin yesterday.

The decision has now meant that the UK government is being questioned why it invested public money in the test case, The Times reports.

After the collapse of the construction group in 2018, Scottish Financial News reported that MPs investigating the collapse of Carillion have accused the company’s board of being “focused on their own pay packets” at the expense of its perilous financial situation as it emerged that the firm had set out “highly restricted circumstances” in which bonuses could be clawed back from directors.

The UK government has claimed the board had “contributory responsibility” for the misconduct of the company’s management. As a result of this, the IS was seeking bans for chairman Philip Green, Andrew Dougal, Alison Horner, Ceri Powell and Keith Cochrane who was also a former chief executive of the business.

Nevertheless, the Insolvency Service said that continuing with the proceedings was no longer in the public interest.