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The European Parliament’s Brexit coordinator has said he “can’t follow anymore” and warned of further uncertainty after Theresa May shelved the key Brexit vote.

Posting on Twitter on Monday, Guy Verhofstadt slammed the Prime Minister’s last-minute decision to postpone the vote, saying: “It’s time they make up their mind.”

He wrote: “I can’t follow anymore. After two years of negotiations, the Tory government wants to delay the vote. Just keep in mind that we will never let the Irish down.

“This delay will further aggravate the uncertainty for people and businesses.”

The comments were mirrored by remarks made by Ian Talbot, the chief executive of the business network Chambers Ireland, who said Britain could “fall off a cliff” unless a decision is made to “do something”.

“We need some clarity,” Mr Talbot said after the vote was postponed on Monday. “We absolutely need to know what’s happening so we can have some preparation time.

“What we want to achieve is get the message over that Britain can’t keep deferring making any decisions whatsoever, because having triggered the Article 50 deadline and March 29, unless some decision is made to do something Britain could fall off a cliff.”

He said a delay would create uncertainty for businesses, such as the aviation industry, as he called for action that brings the UK nearer to a solution.

Mr Talbot, deputy president of Eurochambres, added: "As long as we keep deferring coming to a decision on where we're going to move forward, investment is drying up, for example, in anything involving Brexit, research, education, all these things - everyone is standing back waiting to see what happens."

He made the comments on a visit to Westminster with other members of the association of European chambers of commerce and industry, where they will be meeting members of the Commons Brexit committee.

The statement comes hours after Mrs May abruptly decided to pull a parliamentary vote on her Brexit deal, throwing Britain's plan to leave the European Union up in the air on the eve of the vote.

After repeated warnings that the vote would humiliate her government as opponents and supporters of Brexit joined in opposition to her deal, Mrs May convened a conference call with senior ministers on Monday.

She gave a statement to Parliament at 3.30pm confirming plans to defer the vote. Afterwards, leader of Commons Andrea Leadsom, who organises business in parliament on the government's behalf, is due to speak.

If the Prime Minister stays in power, she could seek to get a better deal from the EU at a summit on December 13-14, in the hope of putting it before parliament at a later date.