EU set to make UK wait before starting Brexit talks

Brussels

THE European Union signalled its intention to keep Theresa May waiting before engaging in negotiations over the UK's exit from the bloc, in an early indication of how the British prime minister will see leverage slipping away as soon as she files for divorce.

As EU leaders insisted they are fully prepared for the Brexit talks, they cancelled provisional plans to hold a summit on April 6 to agree on the outlines of their negotiating position, indicating that Mrs May's announcement that she would invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty on March 29 comes too late for that.