“That is always possible,” he said in an interview in the US during the visit of Theresa May, “They can always reintroduce a request for membership of the European Union.”

“Certainly, we have enough experience to make it a little bit a faster process than what is normal,” he added.

Mr Verhofstadt’s remarks to Al Jazeera English reflect a stubborn strand of thought in Brussels EU institutions and some EU capitals that Britain will bitterly regret its decision to quit the EU and will soon be seeking a way to rejoin the club.