The president of the European Parliament said the UK Government was in "no way prepared" for Britain to vote to leave the EU and is unsure when it wants to begin formal Brexit negotiations.
Martin Schulz has pressed Theresa May to trigger Article 50 and start talks as soon as possible so they do not drag on and clash with EU elections in 2019.
The president, who met with Mrs May in Downing Street on Thursday, said Brexit is a "disaster" for Britain and the EU.
He hit out at the campaign to leave which he said had divided Britain like no other, and said he was alarmed by the recent upsurge in xenophobia in the country.
Mr Schulz said he originally wanted Britain to trigger Article 50 immediately after the referendum, but it soon became clear it would take longer as the Government was unprepared for the Leave vote.
Speaking during a lecture at the London School of Economics, he said: "It is absolutely clear, and it became for me every day clearer, the complexity of the whole exercise is enormous.
"And what we saw was a Government here in London expected a majority for staying in.
"And they were, it was my feeling, no way prepared for the Leave majority."
He said that meant Britain needed time to draw up plans to formally sever ties with the EU, and to decide what type of relationship it wants with the bloc following Brexit.
But he suggested he is not leaving Britain with much more of an idea of what Brexit will look like.
He said: "Honestly, I leave London with a feeling that the Government is undecided about how and when they should trigger Article 50, also with the feeling that they perceive, more and more, the European side - the 27 institutions in Brussels and Strasbourg - can't wait too long."
His intervention comes after Boris Johnson said he expects the Government to trigger Article 50 early next year.
However, the Foreign Secretary was immediately rebuked by Mrs May for making the statement, with her spokesman swiftly insisting that the Government will only say it will not start negotiations this year.
In an hour-long talk and question and answer session about Brexit and the future of the EU, Mr Schulz said Britain's departure is a blow but may allow the remaining member states to pursue greater integration.
He said Britain's decision to leave "is a failure" and the result was "lose lose" for the UK and the EU.
He said: "A G7 country, the second economy of the European single market, a permanent veto of the security council leaving the European Union is a disaster for us and for the United Kingdom."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel