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European Parliament leaders have rebuffed Theresa May’s plan to take her time about negotiating Brexit, saying talks should last just 15 months.

A day after Mrs May told UK business leaders that negotiations would “take time”, the former Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt warned it would be a “tough period, very intense”.

Mr Verhofstadt, the parliament’s chief negotiator, said the process of negotiating Britain’s departure terms should be concluded within around 14 or 15 months after Mrs May triggers Article 50, which begins the formal procedure.

The speed, he said, was necessary in order for MEPs to have time to give their consent to any deal.

Mr Verhofstadt warned that MEPs would reject any deal that sought to curb EU migration while keeping access to the single market.

“It is impossible to find solutions where we destroy the so-called four freedoms,” he said.

In another sign of strained relations, a key ally of Angela Merkel attacked Britain for seeking to keep full access to the European single market while refusing to accept the “four freedoms” which include free movement of workers.

German MEP Manfred Weber, chairman of the centre-right European People’s Party, complained “there is no idea what Brexit really means”.

The two senior MEPs spoke out after talks with Brexit Secretary David Davis that were arranged in an attempt to improve relations ahead of the negotiations, due to start in April.

Mr Weber criticised the way the UK was handling the Brexit process: “What we really expect are clear proposals. In my talk with David Davis, unfortunately I have not heard anything new, I have not heard much as to how the British Government wants to tackle Brexit and what Brexit really means. I have not received any new information, quite the opposite is true.”

Mr Weber also denounced British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson as “arrogant” over comments made about Turkey joining the bloc.

“It’s a purely arrogant provocation from Johnson when he’s telling us what we have to do,” he said.

Responding to Mr Weber’s suggestion that Mr Davis had indicated the UK wants to stay in the single market, a Downing Street spokesman said: “The Government’s position hasn’t changed on this.

“We are very clear that what we want is a trading relationship that allows UK companies to trade both with and within the single market and lets European businesses do the same.”

Speaking at a Westminster media briefing, the Number 10 spokesman declined to respond to repeated questions over whether the relationship the Government is seeking would require single market membership.