Theresa May will trigger Article 50 next Wednesday, firing the starting gun on two years of official Brexit talks

THE countdown to the UK’s historic EU break-away will begin a week tomorrow, Theresa May has revealed.

The PM said she will trigger our formal “Article 50” exit notification to  fire the starting gun on two years of tough negotiations.

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The landmark decision means the UK will leave the EU by March 29, 2019 — as Mrs May has also ruled out any extension to talks.

At the same time yesterday, Downing Street firmly ruled out an early snap general election so the Government can focus on Brexit.

Quashing weeks of idle speculation, the PM’s official spokesman said: “It is not going to happen”.

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And a Cabinet minister dismissed suggestions that an election was imminent as “just b******s”.

The Sun can reveal Tory MPs who routed the Lib Dems in the South-West in 2015 had urged the PM not to go to the polls now fearing it could give the pro-EU party a foothold and risk their seats.

Much to the amusement of Brexiteers, March 29 is the birthday of arch Remainer and former Prime Minister Sir John Major — and the wedding anniversary of Europhile ex-PM Tony Blair and wife Cherie

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Mrs May, in Wales yesterday, said: “I want to ensure we get the best possible deal for the United Kingdom that works for everyone across the United Kingdom.”

She vowed: “We are going to be out there, negotiating hard, delivering on what the British people voted for.”

Brexit Secretary David Davis said setting a date for Article 50 meant the UK was “on the threshold of the most important negotiation for this country for a generation”.

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Though 28 countries have joined the EU in its 60-year history, the UK will be the first to leave it.

The formal communication will come in a letter to EU Council president Donald Tusk.

Responding to the announcement, Mr Tusk tweeted: “Within 48 hours of the UK triggering Article 50, I will present the draft Brexit guidelines to the EU27 Member States.”

The remaining EU leaders will meet in a month’s time to set a mandate about their own conditions for Britain’s deal for their chief negotiator Michel Barnier.

Once his plan is signed off by  EU foreign ministers, formal talks  will begin  around the start of June.

In a provocative move yesterday, ex-French foreign minister Mr Barnier said other EU countries would have to start “preparing now for future controls” on customs with the UK.

That flew in the face of one of Mrs May’s key wishes, for free trade over frictionless borders to remain after Brexit.

EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said the EU was “more prepared than the British side” and warned a tough deal would be imposed on the UK as a warning against to other countries.

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The ex-Luxembourg boss added: “They will all see from Britain’s example that leaving the EU is a bad idea.”

Mrs May rejected calls to use Germany’s World War Two debt as a reason to turn down EU calls for a multi-­billion pound Brexit divorce bill.

Eurosceptic Tory MP Sir Bill Cash had urged the PM to remind Chancellor Angela Merkel and other EU leaders that Britain helped write off half of Germany’s debt in 1953.

The Pound dipped by almost a cent against the US dollar as news of the date broke yesterday, but rallied again.

• A QUARTER of little firms would stop selling goods to the continent if levies were introduced after Brexit, a survey by the Federation of Small Business has found.