Theresa May's former spin doctor reveals Article 50 was triggered too early

Theresa May's former director of communications said the Government is in a weakened position in Brexit negotiations because it invoked Article 50 too early.

Katie Perrior, who resigned from Downing Street after the Prime Minister called a snap general election earlier this year, suggested triggering the legislation in March meant Britain had to accept a timetable for talks from the European Union (EU).

European leaders have insisted key issues including citizens rights, are negotiated before trade discussions can commence. But talks have remained at an impasse and trade has not yet been addressed.

"We of course accepted the Europeans schedule on the negotiation talks," Ms Perrior told ITV's After the News programme. "We probably should have gone in much harder in the beginning."

She added: "We probably should have taken much more time at the beginning to trigger Article 50 and taken things much more slowly than we have.

Her remarks came before Theresa May admitted there was "some way to go" in negotiations with the EU.

The 27 nation bloc have also said not enough progress has been made to begun formal trade talks, but they did say they would begin preparing for them with the UK, by starting internal discussions on the issue.

Until then, formal discussions in Brussels with the UK will continue to focus on the Britain’s financial settlement – also known as the “divorce bill”. The issue of citizens’ rights and the border with Northern Ireland will also be up for discussion.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has insisted the negotiations will eventually succeed.

“As far as I am concerned, I don’t hear any reason to believe that we are not going to be successful,” she said. “I have no doubt that if we are all in clear minds… we are going to achieve a good outcome.”