EU Parliament chief negotiator hopeful, Britain will re-join the EU

Despite the triggering of Article 50 by the British Prime Minister, some EU leaders are still hoping that the UK would someday make a U-turn to join the EU again.

The latest of such a prediction is came from Guy Verhofstadt the chief EU negotiator who claimed that Brexit was a “catfight” surrounded by the Tories and one day the UK would return to Europe.

Mr Verhofstadt said: “I am convinced and one hundred per cent sure about one thing, that there will be a young man or woman who will try again.

“Who will lead Britain into the European family once again. And a young generation that will see Brexit for what it really is, a catfight in the conservative party that got out of hand.

“A lot of time a waste of energy and I think stupidity.”

While delivering his speech at the foremost gathering of the Parliament since Article 50 was invoked by the Prime Minister to being the UK’s formal exit negotiation, the EU leader stated that the relationship "was never a love affair".

Mr Verhofstadt said: "It was a very sad moment, Wednesday last week when the British ambassador gave the letter to President Tusk.

"The relationship between Britain and the EU was never an easy relationship, let’s recognise that, it was never a love affair, certainly not a question of wild passion, it was a marriage of convenience.

"In the early years of the union, it was Macmillan who looked at the continent with nothing less than suspicion.

"'What were they cooking up in Brussels, were they really discussing coal and steel or were they also talking politics in Brussels? Plotting on foreign policy, or god forbid, defence matters even?"

Also present was Nigel Farage who blamed the EU of behaving like Mafia, as he went further to brand some of the EU leaders’ demand which also includes the controversial Brexit bill as "unreasonable".

Farage also said the warning given to the UK by the EU which restricts the UK from entering any form of trade treaty with any country has no basis in any treaty legislation.

He says: "You are behaving like the Mafia, but we are free to go...we are being given a ransom note. But what must be very difficult for all of you is there is a bigger world out there than the EU.

"If you wish to have no deal and force us to walk away from the table it is not us that will be hurt...a return to tariffs will risk the jobs of hundreds of thousands of people but you say you want to put the interests above that of your citizens and the EU.

“If you do that it will not just be the UK that triggers Article 50 but there will be many more to come."

The debate in the European Parliament in Strasbourg focuses on key issues of the Brexit talks including reciprocal rights for EU citizens, the peace process in Northern Ireland and trade.