Donald Tusk trolls Theresa May on Instagram over her Brexit plan

While the warnings are not dissimilar to others that have been made, they underline the potential for disruption that could occur after the official leaving date next March.

“This is one small step for the minister but a giant stride for our campaign to deliver a people’s vote”, she said, as quoted by The Independent.

The Salzburg meeting came as campaigners in the United Kingdom published a roadmap setting out how MPs could force the Prime Minister to accept what they call a People’s Vote on her deal, with the option of remaining in the EU.

Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Xavier Bettel also said time was “getting short”, adding: “We both need to find a compromise”.

Why do people keep talking about “Chequers” – what is it?

“I voted for a proper Brexit, a clean Brexit that gives us control of our destiny, yes a little bit of short-term pain but for the long-term good”.

“The onus is now on all of us to get this deal done”.

The Prime Minister’s objection to Brussels’ earlier plan, to effectively keep Northern Ireland in the customs union and which would have placed the border with the Republic down the Irish Sea, was anathema to the UK Government, not to mention the Democratic Unionists, who prop it up at Westminster.

“I’ve come to the conclusion that this “put up, shut up” attitude of the prime minister’s – it’s Chequers or nothing – you do as you’re told or else, is a massive insult, not only to my colleagues but also to the voters”, Sir Mike told the paper.

‘History will not, in our opinion, be kind to any politician who hides behind purely logistical arguments, legalese or arcane parliamentary procedure in order to deny people a vote on the outcome of these Brexit negotiations at such a fragile and crucial moment for our country’.

‘We’ll have the opportunity to take the freedoms that people voted for and use them to deliver that better future for everybody’.

Tusk said the negotiations on Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union were reaching a “decisive phase”, as he opened the first of three summits that Brussels hopes will end in a divorce deal.

Various scenarios are still possible today, but I would like to stress that some of Prime Minister May’s proposals from Chequers indicate a positive evolution in the UK’s approach as well as a will to minimise the negative effects of Brexit.

Before that European Union leaders will chew over May’s proposals further at working lunch with the bloc’s Brexit chief, Michel Barnier.

MP for Hemel Hempstead since 2005, he was sacked from the government by the prime minister past year and then knighted in a move widely seen by MPs as Mrs May attempting to buy his future loyalty despite his pro-Brexit views.

Barnier and his team “have been working since the summer on changing the language of its backstop to “de-dramatise” it and to show, says Brussels, that its proposal is practical – involving minimal customs checks – and not political at all”, reports BBC Europe editor Katya Adler.

‘We are ready to improve this proposal.

French prime minister Emmanuel Macron said: “We have very clear principles about the integrity of the single market and regarding the Irish border”.

A government source suggested Britain would come up with other proposals to try to reach agreement on Northern Ireland “in due course”, but May has so far been reluctant to move from her Chequers plan, hashed out at her country home in July. As mentioned several times in the past, the key sticking point in Brexit talks remains that of the Irish border.