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Ted Malloch said trying to punish Britain for exiting the union to avoid others following suit could lead to a backlash for the bloc. Speaking to RT after Theresa May triggered Article 50 on Wednesday, Mr Malloch said: “It’s a great day for Great Britain. “I think that finally there will be freedom again in Great Britain as a result of leaving the EU. “It’s a democratic vote, a referendum to leave, and I actually think it will be a fairly clear break. It won’t be a soft break or a hard break but a clean break.”

RT • GETTY Ted Malloch warned the EU against trying to punish the UK for Brexit

Mr Malloch, who has previously sparked the European Union’s fury for his support of Brexit, also suggesting trying to pushing the UK for leaving will only harm the bloc. He said: “You hear some people going to those negotiations saying that they’re going to be very harsh, very punitive, and ‘we’re going to teach Britain a lesson’. “Well, that really won’t be very constructive if that’s the case. It will be a very short negotiation; I suspect it can be over in as few as six months. “But if they take this ‘we’re going to teach Britain a lesson so nobody else does this’ attitude, I think it will end badly, particularly for the EU.”

I think it will end badly, particularly for the EU Ted Malloch

The warning to Brussels comes after the EU Commission president earlier this week said he would push for Ohio and Texas to split from the rest of America if Donald Trump does not retreat from his eurosceptic stance. In his speech at the centre-right European People Party’s (EPP) annual conference in Malta, Jean-Claude Juncker said: “Brexit isn’t the end. “A lot of people would like it that way, even people on another continent where the newly elected US President was happy that the Brexit was taking place and has asked other countries to do the same. “If he goes on like that I am going to promote the independence of Ohio and Austin, Texas in the US.”

Brexit day: images from around the country as Britain invokes Article 50 Mon, April 3, 2017 The country reacts as Theresa May officially invokes Article 50, and begins the process of Britain leaving the European Union Play slideshow EPA 1 of 22 Pro-EU demonstrators protest outside Parliament

Mr Juncker added: “Brexit isn’t the end of everything. We must consider it to be a new beginning, something that is stronger, something that is better.” The comments sparked a storm both in Europe and the US at a time when relations between Washington and Brussels are already strained over the Continent’s Nato contributions. Following the speech, a spokesman for the bloc insisted the remarks were not meant to be taken literally. But in a fiery rant on Fox News, Nigel Farage tore into the eurocrat as he branded Mr Juncker a “complete and total idiot”.