The EU will not engage in trade talks with the UK until the end of February at the earliest, the European Commission has confirmed.

Eric Mamer, the European Commission spokesman, said the commission would only "adopt its proposal for the negotiation directives only once the UK has actually withdrawn from the EU".

Mr Mamer said negotiations will be started "as quickly as we can" but cautioned that it would not be "before the end of February, beginning of March".

"This is not a slowing down or speeding up of the process. This is simply the nature of the institutional process and the consultations that need to take place before the negotiation directives can be formally adopted," he said.

It comes as Boris Johnson gave a speech to the UK-Africa investment Summit this morning in which he tried to woo African nations by declaring that "Africa is the future".