John Kerry pleads with EU leaders not to seek ‘revenge’ on the UK for Brexit vote

US Secretary of State John Kerry has warned EU leaders not to be “scatterbrained” and punish Britain.

He spoke out after Angela Merkel, Francois Hollande and Matteo Renzi got tough yesterday over Brexit talks.

After holding an emergency summit, the leaders of Germany, France and Italy insisted there will be no discussions at all with the UK about its breakaway until we formally trigger our departure, which automatically sets a two year deadline to go.

The move is a bid to speed up the process and end uncertainty that the leaders insist will destabilise the EU.

Mr Hollande urged Britain to “not waste time” after a summit in Berlin with the two counterparts.

But on a flying visit to London yesterday, Mr Kerry said: “I think it is absolutely essential that we stay focused in this transitional period.

“Nobody loses their head, nobody goes off half cocked, people don’t start ginning up scatterbrained or revengeful premises.”

His powerful intervention to help Britain comes as David Cameron heads to Brussels today for his last EU summit to make the same plea.

The PM will urge Europe’s other 27 bosses not to punish us and instead “make the best” of Brexit, a senior Whitehall figure said.

Mrs Merkel, Mr Hollande and Mr Renzi also tried to thrash out an emergency plan to try to halt In/Out referendum calls in other EU countries.

Poland would like to see Britain hold a second in-out referendum on EU membership, the leader of the country’s ruling party said on Monday.

But the bloc would have to “radically change” for Britons to want to return, Jaroslaw Kaczynski also admitted.