Angela Merkel has insisted there is "no need to be nasty" to Britain over its "divorce" terms from the EU.

The intervention from the German chancellor came despite the EU putting Mr Cameron under intense pressure to immediately begin Brexit talks.

Mr Cameron said he would leave it to a successor chosen in October to trigger the two-year process of negotiations envisaged by EU treaties when he announced his resignation in the wake of the humiliating referendum defeat.

But the Prime Minister's slow-motion exit plan has drawn considerable fire on the Continent.

Mrs Merkel said it "shouldn't take forever" for Britain to deliver formal notification of its intention to leave under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.