Brexit: Cameron to face EU leaders after vote to leave

David Cameron is to meet European Union leaders for the first time since the UK voted to leave.

The UK prime minister will discuss the implications of the Brexit vote and the way ahead at an EU summit in Brussels.

German, French and Italian leaders said on Monday there could be no "formal or informal" talks on a British exit at this stage.

Meanwhile, Chancellor George Osborne has ruled himself out of replacing Mr Cameron as prime minister.

He said in the Times that "it isn't in my nature to do things by half-measure, and I fought the referendum campaign with everything I've got. I believed in this cause and fought hard for it.

"So it is clear that while I completely accept the result, I am not the person to provide the unity my party needs at this time."

And Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said the UK must remain within the EU's single market.

Mr Hunt, who is said to be considering standing for the leadership after Mr Cameron stands down, has floated the idea of a "Norway plus" arrangement outside the EU where the UK would enjoy the current trade benefits of being a full EU member while negotiating revised immigration rules.

In other developments on Tuesday, Labour MPs will vote on a motion of no confidence in their leader Jeremy Corbyn — who has insisted he is staying put — while Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will address MSPs over Brexit's implications for Scotland's future.

As Europe tries to come to terms with Britain's decision to leave, Mr Cameron will attend a working dinner of EU leaders after meetings with European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
He will not attend talks between the leaders of the other 27 EU member states at breakfast on Wednesday.

Mr Cameron is standing down after last week's referendum went against him. The prime minister campaigned for the UK to remain a member but has insisted that the result must be accepted.

Speaking on Monday, he said a special unit within government was being set up to lay the initial groundwork for leaving the EU.

'Swift and coherent'

However, he has said that it must be up to his successor — who will be elected by the start of September — to decide how to proceed and precisely when to give formal notification of the UK's intention to leave by invoking Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.

Under EU rules, once this happens, the UK would have two years to negotiate the terms of its divorce from the EU — unless the remaining 27 members unanimously agreed to extend the process. It must also decide the shape of its future trading relationship with the EU.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said a new UK government must be given time to prepare itself but other EU leaders have said the process cannot be delayed indefinitely amid fears of "contagion" for an organisation facing multiple economic and political challenges.

French President Francois Hollande and Prime Minister Matteo Renzi have emphasised the need to process the UK's exit as quickly as possible and focus on the challenges facing the remaining 27 states such as fighting terrorism and strengthening the borders.

The European Parliament will also meet on Tuesday in emergency session to debate the fallout from the Brexit vote — including a non-binding motion urging the "immediate activation" of Article 50.

'Clock ticking'

MEPs, who must ratify any final agreement with the UK, have said they want to be "fully involved" in the process and that withdrawal must be "swift and coherent" in order to protect the interests of the wider "European project".

After two days of sharp falls in the stock market and sterling and political turmoil engulfing both the Conservative and Labour parties, there is increasing uncertainty about what Brexit will entail and the precise nature of the mandate that Mr Cameron's successor will be given.

Speaking in the Commons on Monday, former Chancellor Ken Clarke said it should be up to MPs to decide the terms of the UK's exit and the blueprint set out by the Leave campaign during the referendum — including quitting the single market — should not be sacrosanct.

Brexit discussions at the EU

Tuesday: Extraordinary European Parliament session in Brussels on Brexit vote 10:00-12:00 (08:00-10:00 GMT), including speeches by Mr Tusk, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and party leaders, probably including UKIP's Nigel Farage. There is also an EU summit (European Council) in Brussels, at which David Cameron will brief the other EU leaders over dinner, from 19:45 (17:45 GMT), explaining the political fallout in the UK

Wednesday: Second day of EU summit will feature breakfast talks between 27 leaders — Mr Cameron not attending. Talks focus on UK's "divorce process" as stipulated by Article 50, and Mr Tusk will "launch a wider reflection on the future of the EU"; press conferences in afternoon.

But Commons leader and Leave campaigner Chris Grayling said the UK was the EU's biggest customer and, as such, negotiations would be a "two way process". There will be "real damage" to European markets if a "sensible agreement" were not reached, he said.

In an article for the Daily Telegraph, Mr Hunt said the UK needed to secure a "sensible compromise" on freedom of movement rules as part of a broader agreement that kept the UK in the single market — an objective which he said must be a "explicit national objective".

The British public's concerns about immigration needed to be addressed, he said, while it was also in the EU's interest to do so as it "faced collapse" unless the current unconditional right of all its citizens to live and work in other member states could be reconsidered.

He also raised the possibility of the public having another vote on the terms of the Brexit deal or an early general election.

"Before setting the clock ticking, we need to negotiate a deal and put it to the British people, either through a referendum or through a Conservative manifesto at a fresh general election," he wrote.