Britain could be fast-tracked to re-join the EU if it decides to reapply for membership, chief negotiator claims
BRITAIN could be fast tracked back into the European Union if we ever wanted to rejoin the bloc - its chief Brexit negotiator has claimed.
Former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt said it would be "always possible" for a future British government to reapply for membership if the country changed its mind.
When asked why he thought the UK had voted for Brexit he said: "Mainly migration. It's very clear."
The ex-PM is thought to represent a widespread feeling within EU institutions that the UK will regret Brexit and want to come back into the fold.
"In their hearts, some of them still hope we won't go through with it," a senior British official with knowledge of the negotiations told .
Mr Verhofstadt's appointment as chief negotiator has been slammed by Brexiteers in the UK who believe he despises Eurosceptics.
He was recently in a row with Boris Johnson because the Foreign Secretary compared French president Francois Hollande to a Nazi guard administering "punishment beatings".
The Foreign Secretary had been asked about Hollande allegedly wanting to punish Britain for its Brexit decision.
Mr Verhofstadt branded the remark "abhorrent". Posting on Twitter he said: "Yet more abhorrent & deeply unhelpful comments from @BorisJohnson which PM May should condemn."
The negotiator's claims come as British Prime Minister Theresa May visited Turkey today, agreeing a $20billion post-Brexit trade deal with the country.
Mrs May flew to Ankara this morning to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan following the announcement from Downing Street that the UK and Turkey have agreed to set up a new joint working group to carry out the groundwork for a deal.
Following the talks, which took place in the Presidential Palace this morning, the UK's BAE Systems said it had signed a £100million deal with Turkey's national aerospace firm to develop a new generation of Turkish fighter jets, the British government said in a statement.
Just hours earlier the PM had been in Washington meeting new US President Donald Trump, who took her by the hand and said: "Brexit will be a wonderful thing".
He even went so far as to call the UK’s divorce from the EU a “blessing to the world” as he threw his weight behind the landmark referendum result.
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