Delay Brexit negotiations so people can go on holiday first, Vote Leave chief Matthew Elliot says

Leave-backing politicians have backed the idea of a delay but EU countries aren't happy

Brexit negotiations should not go ahead straight away so people can go away “on holiday” before they start, the chief of Vote Leave has said.

Matthew Elliot, the chief executive of the official campaign to leave the EU, said there should be a pause before negotiations took place in part so that people could go away for the summer.

Brussels officials and the leaders of other EU countries have urged Britain to start Brexit negotiations straight away in order to limit the extent of any damaging transition period.

But British politicians who backed Leave including Boris Johnson have said there is no “haste” in invoking the Article 50 provision in EU treaties that triggers the exit process.

Mr Elliot, whose campaign led the Leave option to a 52 per cent to 48 per cent victory on Thursday, also said there should be no rush.

“I don't think we need to rush this process, during the campaign there was talk about triggering article 50 and its process of leaving the EU right away, literally Friday morning,” he told US broadcaster CNBC.

“I think quite rightly the PM has paused on that which allows the dust to settle, allows people to go away on holiday, have some informal discussions about it, and then think about it come September/October time.”

Such a timescale would see negotiations begin around the appointment of a new Conservative leader and Prime Minister, who David Cameron has said he wants in place by the party’s annual conference in October.

The call comes after eurosceptic Tory MEP Daniel Hannan announced this weekend that he was to go on holiday immediately after the vote.

Mr Elliot previously led the Taxpayers' Alliance before running Vote Leave.

The lack of haste follows significant economic uncertainty for the UK with the pound drops to lows not seen since the 1980s and credit rating agencies putting Britain’s credit rating on negative outlook.