The European Union will lose more than twice as many jobs as Britain after a hard Brexit, research by one of the world’s leading universities found as tough UK-EU divorce talks begin in Brussels.

Hard Brexit describes what will happen if the UK and EU fail to reach a divorce deal by 29 March 2019. Britain would revert to WTO tariffs on imports and exports to and from the EU rather than the zero tariffs afforded by membership of the bloc.

The return of tariffs to goods and services would cost 526,830 British jobs and 1.209 million jobs in the remaining 27 EU member states, according to researchers at Belgium’s University of Leuven, one of the top 50 global universities. The damage would lead to a 4.48% drop in UK GDP and 1.54% in EU GDP, researchers found.

“It is time to focus on securing a Brexit that works,” Lord Ian Duncan, a former member of the European Parliament, told The Telegraph.

“Too many jobs are at risk and posturing and finger pointing from the other side of the Channel won’t save them. Only serious negotiation will,” the conservative parliamentary undersecretary of state for Scotland said.

Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, has repeatedly warned that "no deal" would hurt both the UK and the EU but would harm Britain the most.