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The head of the European Commission has announced he's "happy" to help Britain rejoin the EU if it wants to.

Jean-Claude Juncker's comments come just a day after European Council President Donald Tusk said Britain could still change its mind about Brexit .

Addressing MEPs today, Mr Juncker said: "Even if the British leave according to Article 50 then Article 49 would allow them to accede again. I would be happy to facilitate that."

"The exit of Great Britain is a catastrophe. It is a defeat we all have to deal with the consequences of," Mr Juncker added today.

"The British people, the British government, may wish to find a different away out of the Brexit situation. We’re very much willing to deal with them.

"We are not throwing the British out, we would like the British to stay, and if they so wish they should be allowed to do so."

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(Image: Getty) (Image: AFP)

Last March Theresa May became the first national leader ever to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, triggering a two-year countdown to leave the EU.

Article 49 of the same treaty is the slow process by which nations who aren't EU members can join - if they respect "human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights".

The intervention comes after several Remain supporters met with EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier.

Yesterday the President of the European Council went further, declaring it was not too late to stop Brexit at all.

Donald Tusk made the startling comments after a shock poll found Remain would win by 10 points in a re-run of the EU referendum .

He told MEPs in Strasbourg: "If the UK Government sticks to its decision to leave, Brexit will become a reality - with all its negative consequences - in March next year unless there is a change of heart among our British friends.

"Wasn't it David Davis himself who said 'if a democracy cannot change its mind, it ceases to be a democracy’?"

(Image: AFP) (Image: AFP)

He added the EU had not had a "change of heart" over Brexit, telling the British: "Our hearts are still open to you."

Mr Juncker backed Mr Tusk's message when he made it yesterday, saying he hoped it "will be heard clearly in London".

The Tory government, whose Brexit Secretary is Mr Davis, has said bluntly that there will not be a second EU referendum.

But Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and other top Labour figures have failed to rule out calling for one in future.

Even former UKIP leader Nigel Farage suggested last week that a second referendum would be necessary to kill the issue for a generation.

Mr Tusk demanded more clarity from Theresa May over her Brexit plans after she reached a first-round deal over citizens' events, Northern Ireland and the £39billion 'divorce bill' in December.

Conservative MEP Syed Kamall admitted the second phase of negotiations, which covers the future relationship and trade, would be no easier than the first.

"There will probably be moments when it seems like the two sides are far apart, incapable of understanding each other," he told MEPs.