UK gov to trigger Article 50 in January, says Farage

The British government is likely to trigger formal Brexit talks with the European Union in January 2017, the former leader of Ukip, Nigel Farage said on Wednesday.

“I don’t mind the government spending a few months getting its ducks in a row, getting ready,” Farage told Bloomberg. “I think what you’ll see, I hope what you’ll see is Article 50 triggered probably in January.”

Prime Minister Theresa May said she would not trigger Article 50, the clause in the Lisbon Treaty that initiates a two-year negotiation period with the EU, this year.

However, she is facing calls from the pro-Brexit contingent of the Conservative party to trigger the clause in the new year, before elections are held in France and Germany in the spring and summer.

Farage was a prominent leave campaigner who was largely responsible for former Prime Minister David Cameron calling for a referendum on the country's membership of the trading block.

During his state of the union address on Wednesday, EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the UK should trigger Article 50 “as quickly as possible”.

In light of the Brexit result from the June referendum, the EU set up an Article 50 task force, led by chief negotiator and former French foreign minister, Michel Barnier, who former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg called “no friend of the City of London”, and Sabine Weyand, a German trade official.

The taskforce will “prepare and conduct negotiations with the UK, taking into account of the framework for its future relationship with the European Union”.