Trade deal with EU could

deal that involved her holding talks with Martin Schulz, president of the European Parliament, failed to bring a breakthrough.

“We have done our job. We have finished negotiating a very good agreement. Now the ball is in Europe’s court,” she said.

“I hope that I can return in the next days with my prime minister to sign securing the terms of Brexit. It will deal with what share of EU assets Britain gets when it leaves and whether it will have to continue to pay into the bloc. This process is expected to finish in early 2019.

The second, linked set of talks – compared to “remarrying” by government sources – is about signing a new trade deal between the UK and the EU.

It is this area that ministers fear could be held up for years because every one of the 27 remaining EU nations – and Belgium’s regional parliaments such as Wallonia – must sign it off. One minister told

“It could take a decade to agree. Britain is at the mercy of the Walloons.”

There are fears that a “lowest common denominator” deal could be given to Britain, with vital aspects beneficial to the UK taken out as it passes through parliaments on the Continent.

Department of International Trade figures are understood to increasingly believe that Britain will end up on World Trade Organisation rules, which would bring big tariffs on meat exports.