Divisiong, confusion as EU rethinks future without Britain

Juncker’s decision to roll out the red carpet for her on the day the 27 other European Union leaders held their first meeting without Britain was seen by some diplomats as an attempt to pressure London to hand in its formal notice to quit. “We would do well to accept this reality”, Merkel said, when asked about the the possibility of a British U-turn on Brexit.

Grayling, who declined to say who he would support in that contest, said he did not think the new prime minister needed to hold an early election.

“When I came here 17 years ago and I said I wanted to lead a campaign to get Britain to leave the European Union, you all laughed at me”, he said.

When Juncker mentioned the Brexit vote in a speech, Farage cheered, to which the EU Commission president joked, and quipped: “The British people voted in favour of the exit – why are you here?”

Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the main opposition Labour party, vowed to fight on despite losing a crushing no-confidence vote among his party’s lawmakers.

His comments were backed by European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, who said that anyone wanting free access to the internal market had to accept the principles of free movement of goods, services, people and capital “without exception and without nuances”.

Draghi had added that he agreed with private economists who predict eurozone growth will be reduced by up to 0.5 percent cumulatively over the next three years due to the “Brexit” vote.

Mr Cameron has since the vote reiterated that the task of negotiating Britain’s exit from the European Union would be the responsibility of a new prime minister who would be in place by the time of the Conservative party conference in October.

Expressing regret and sadness over Britain’s decision to leave the European Union, Mr Cameron said the country would not turn its back on Europe and would instead build the strongest ties it could.

“We can not be embroiled in lasting uncertainty”, Juncker said in a speech to the European Parliament, which he interrupted to ask British members of the assembly who campaigned to leave the EU why they were there.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the lesson from Britain’s departure isn’t necessarily either deeper integration or returning more powers to national governments.

He also said Britain should seek full access to the EU’s single market, but that it will be hard to get that without accepting the free movement of people as well.

Mr Tusk said: “There will be no negotiations of any kind until the United Kingdom formally notifies its intention to withdraw”.

Speaking at a news conference following a summit with the leaders of Canada and Mexico in Ottawa, Obama said there were “genuine longer term concerns” over global growth following the Brexit vote. “This is why we started a political reflection with 27 states and we’ll meet on September 16 in Bratislava to continue our talks”, Tusk said.

The US secretary of state, John Kerry, also wondered on Tuesday whether Brexit might ever happen, suggesting leave campaigners do not truly believe in Britain’s divorce from the EU.