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Arch-federalist Guy Verhofstadt unveiled splits in the European Union with his proposals for a much softer Brexit arrangement between Brussels and London.

The European Parliament's Brexit coordinator suggested the EU could seek to strike an "association agreement" with Britain to maintain closer ties after Brexit – but he was solemnly shut down by European Council boss Donald Tusk.

Mr Tusk said: "Unfortunately what we are working on is kind of a dissociation agreement, not an association agreement.

"Brexit, the decision of the British referendum, was about dissociation, not association."