98 per cent say NO to EU deal: Forget talks with Brussels and quit NOW, urges new poll

Former Tory cabinet minister John Redwood has led a cross party group of MPs which has come up with a plan to get Britain out of the EU “in just a matter of weeks”.

The simple solution, also backed by Labour Leave, would be to trigger article 50 by repealing the 1972 European Communities Act and then informing the EU that the UK is no longer a member but intends to trade tariff free.

If the EU then decides to impose tariffs then Britain would respond but because the UK has a trade deficit with the EU of  almost £24 billion a trade war would be more damaging to European countries especially Germany which could lose its biggest car market.

New Brexit Secretary David Davis has suggested that Article 50 could be triggered early in 2017 and Britain could be out by the end of 2018.

A Downing Street spokeswoman insisted that the time taken was about getting Britain the best deal.

She said: "We have been very clear that Brexit means brexit - and we are going to make a success of it.

“That means we are already making progress in preparations to leave the EU, and are committed to getting the best deal possible for the whole of the UK".

But amid concerns over unnecessary delays, Mrs May told MEPs that it could “take months” before the process begins properly.

The Tory leader in the European Parliament Syed Kamall said: "We were starting to talk about the different areas of negotiations, not coming to any conclusions yet.

First Minister Ms Sturgeon provoked claims that she is trying to “blackmail” the UK Government into ignoring the democratic will of the British people after making a speech threatening a second independence referendum if Brexit happens.

In a speech at a Scottish thinktank, the SNP First Minister claimed independence could offer Scots “greatest certainty” as she revealed her demands for keeping the country’s links with the EU.

The threat of trying to trigger another referendum less than two years after Scots overwhelmingly rejected independence despite a promise at the time by Ms Sturgeon that it was a “once in a generation event”.