US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he was "surprised at how badly" the Brexit negotiations have gone.

In an unhelpful intervention for the UK prime minister, the president said Theresa May had ignored his advice on how to better handle negotiations.

Britain is scheduled to leave the European Union on March 29. MPs are set to vote on Thursday evening on whether to request a delay until at least June.

LONDON — US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he was "surprised at how badly" Brexit has gone and that UK Prime Minister Theresa May ignored his advice on how to better handle negotiations.

In an unhelpful intervention for the prime minister, the president said that the issue was tearing the UK apart and that it would probably be forced to delay Brexit.

"It's a very complex thing that's going on right now," he told reporters in Washington at a bilateral meeting with Ireland's prime minister, Leo Varadkar. "It's tearing a country apart. It's actually tearing a lot of countries apart. And it's a shame that it has to be that way, but I think we will stay right in our lane."

Trump added: "I'm surprised at how badly it's all gone from the standpoint of a negotiation. But I gave the prime minister my ideas on how to negotiate it, and I think you would've been successful. She didn't listen to that, and that's fine ... But I think it could have been negotiated in a different manner."

Britain is scheduled to leave the European Union on March 29. MPs are set to vote on Thursday evening on whether to request a delay until at least June.

Asked whether he thinks the UK should push back its exit date, Trump said: "I think they're probably going to have to do something, because right now they're in the midst of a very short period of time — the end of the month — and they're not going to be able to do that."