Pair will meet in No 10 on Thursday after EU ruled out striking a deal about a future relationship until Britain has formally left

Theresa May is to meet Donald Tusk to discuss the timing of a Brexit deal after the EU ruled out striking an agreement about a future relationship until Britain has formally left the bloc.

The prime minister will host the European council president in Downing Street on Thursday in their first encounter since she formally notified the EU of the UK’s decision to leave by triggering article 50.

May has repeatedly said she believes it is possible for the UK to negotiate its future relationship with the EU at the same time as concluding exit talks within a two-year time frame before Britain leaves at the end of March 2019.

But draft negotiating guidelines published by Tusk state that a deal on the future relationship can only be concluded once Britain is a “third party”.

May said she and Tusk would discuss the timing, which is the first problem to solve before the negotiations formally begin.

Speaking at the launch of the Conservative party’s local election campaign in Nottinghamshire, she said: “We will be talking about the start of negotiations, how we are going to take these negotiations forward.

“We have said very clearly we want to maintain a deep and special partnership with the EU and I think that is reciprocated. And I will be talking to President Tusk [about] how we can ensure within the timescale we have got that we can deliver a deal that will work for people in the UK but I believe that will also be a deal that can work for the EU as well.”

Another issue on the table is likely to be Gibraltar, after the draft guidelines controversially handed Spain a veto over its future relationship with the EU after Brexit. May has said Gibraltar’s sovereignty will not be on the table, although its future was not mentioned in her letter to Tusk triggering article 50.

Tusk has made clear he is seeking a fair settlement, but said the Brexit negotiations could become confrontational at times.