Donald Tusk, the European Council president, will increase the pressure on the Prime Minister on Thursday with a warning that detailed talks can not begin until she triggers the formal Article 50 process to leave the EU.
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This comes as the European Union leaders, excluding the United Kingdom, prepare to hold talks in Bratislava next week to “discuss the political consequences of Brexit for Europe”.
But he stressed that “it is clear that an European Union member state can not hold bilateral talks on free trade deals with non-EU states as long as it remains a member of the EU”.
Tusk who, as head of the European Council, leads the body that defines the bloc’s political direction and priorities, said on Twitter that it was “in everybody’s best interest to start ASAP [as soon as possible]”.
“Our goal (is) to establish closest possible EU-UK relations”.
Mr Tusk – who oversaw the UK’s European Union renegotiation prior to the in/out referendum – has said he wants to see a “velvet divorce” between the United Kingdom and European Union, but he has also insisted that there will be no formal talks until the United Kingdom triggers the formal process for leaving under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.
Jeremy Corbyn accused the Government of issuing “contradictory messages” on Brexit which were exacerbating “huge uncertainty” about the UK’s future.
Mrs May was challenged by the Scottish National Party’s Westminster leader Angus Robertson to say whether she wanted the United Kingdom to stay in the single market.
Despite the comment being made on Monday from the despatch box in the Commons – where ministers are expected to speak on behalf of the Government – the Prime Minister’s spokeswoman said Mr Davis was expressing a personal opinion rather than official policy.
Pat McFadden MP of the Open Britain campaign, said: “The Government’s position of giving no clarity may be a result of not knowing what their three Brexit ministers will say next, but it’s not good enough for the public, who deserve to know what direction we are going in following the referendum”.
Mrs May was challenged by the SNP’s Westminster leader Angus Robertson to say whether she wanted the United Kingdom to remain fully within the single market.
“What the president said was that the ball is in our court, which it is”, the spokeswoman told a regular Westminster media briefing. Free movement of people among member states is a core principle of the bloc.
But May has faced criticism from Brexit backers for rejecting the idea of the United Kingdom adopting an Australian-style visa system, a programme that was backed by Vote Leave and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson during the campaign.
In a statement to the Scottish Parliament Ms Sturgeon said: “I do not think it is acceptable to have a cloud of secrecy hanging over the UK Government’s negotiating position”.
The Prime Minister wants to have the work underway – she recognises that people have their differing views and that’s why we need to do the work that there is.
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May has said that Britain won’t begin the divorce proceedings until next year, to give her government time to prepare for negotiations that will shape the country’s future relations with the rest of Europe for many years.
