EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier hopes for 'constructive' Brexit talks

Gabriel said "it would naturally be best if Britain didn't leave at all".

The UK General Election will have left Theresa May and Brexit negotiators floundering in the run up to today's initial meetings and how Britain will be looking to leave the European Union may have also fundamentally have changed, with the DUP having provided support to the Tories to remain in control by way of a minority government.

"The most important thing I think now is for us to. think about the new partnership, the deep and special partnership that we want to build with our friends", said Mr Johnson, who campaigned in last year's referendum to leave the EU.

Barnier was less warm as he welcomed Davis.

"We must first tackle the uncertainties caused by Brexit, first for citizens, but also for the beneficiaries of European Union policies and for the impact on borders, in particular Ireland", he said.

Is Britain also looking for a free trade deal? .

Mr Davis will be accompanied by a nine-strong negotiating team that includes the most senior civil servants at the department as well as officials from the Treasury and Home Office as well as Mark Sedwill, the national security adviser to the Prime Minister.

"I do not know which particular line of approach is being made by the Government because they are in complete division, so I think actually removing this Government and allowing a Labour government, if necessary a minority government, to come into place would give us clear direction on all of this", he told Sky News.

Investors are anxious that Britain could crash out of the European Union without an exit agreement in place, an outcome that would mean steep new barriers to trade. Finally he claimed the negotiations would offer "a revolution" which would solve a longstanding issue in British politics.

Brexit talks are officially underway.

But further turmoil and a new prime minister could risk any progress that is made in the first weeks of talks if the new leader decides to take a different direction. The imminent sacking of a man nicknamed "the undertaker" for his dry manner was openly discussed in the ruling party.

Negotiations on Brexit must be completed before March 2019.

Chancellor Philip Hammond, who is regarded as a "soft Brexiteer", said on Sunday that the United Kingdom would definitely leave both the single market and the customs union, but said it made sense to put transitional arrangements in place to lessen the immediate impact on businesses. The question is what do we put in its place in order to deliver the objectives the Prime Minister set out in her Lancaster House speech of having no hard land border in Ireland and enabling British goods to flow freely backwards and forwards across the border with the European Union?

The letter from the British Chambers of Commerce, Confederation of British Industry, EEF, Federation of Small Businesses, and Institute of Directors, calls on the government to accept continued membership of the Single Market and Customs union until any new trade deal is signed and implemented - a process that trade experts suggest could take up to a decade.

At the time of the report, the pound is up 0.10% at $1.2796, though we could see an initial swing upon the opening comments from either side of the table, anything vaguely amicable likely to provide support, but not much considering its just the start. President Emmanuel Macron and the growing assurance from German Chancellor Angela Merkel that she will be reelected in September, analysts say there may be fewer reasons for Europe to compromise.

Monday morning's terror attack in London and devastating fires in Portugal reminded him that "there is more that unites us than divides us".

Talks will begin at 0900 GMT with a joint press conference by former French foreign minister and European commissioner Barnier and Davis at around 1630 GMT (12.30am Malaysia).