The European Union's negotiating team is ready for Britain's exit talks and hopes the agreed timetable, which has a start date of June 19, can hold, a top EU official said.

"It is up to the UK to form a government and we hope that that will happen quickly. The results are not likely to simplify the situation, but from our side, the preparations have been made. Mr Barnier stands ready with his team," Johannes Hahn, the European Commissioner who oversees EU membership bids, said today, referring to the bloc's negotiator Michel Barnier.

"We are extremely interested in a good, reasonable outcome and the idea is that we stick to the timeline (of the talks)," Hahn told a news conference.

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