“A commitment on the timing of Article 50 is meaningless unless Theresa May can answer all the prior and more fundamental questions about what deal Britain is going to propose for our future relationship with the EU, what the plan is to secure that deal, and what we will do if it fails.

“This is exactly the same mistake David Cameron made with his proposed renegotiation last year: working to an artificial, self-imposed timetable; with a flawed Plan A of what he wanted to achieve; and no Plan B whatsoever. Unless Theresa May starts spelling out the government’s plan on free trade, on free movement, on budget contributions, and a host of other issues, we will have to conclude she is only interested in achieving headlines not providing solutions.”