The European Parliament has savaged the British government's handling of Brexit negotiations, voting against opening talks on future trade and condemning disarray in Prime Minister Theresa May's team.
The leader of the European Union legislature's biggest party, a German ally of conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel, said on Tuesday that cabinet infighting was putting a deal at risk and called on May to get rid of her own foreign secretary, Boris Johnson.
"Please sack Johnson," said Manfred Weber, a leading figure in the assembly, which must approve any deal struck by EU negotiator Michel Barnier before Britain leaves in March 2019.
Opening the debate in Strasbourg on Tuesday, Barnier and EU chief executive Jean-Claude Juncker repeated their view that a fourth round of negotiations last week did not produce enough agreement for the EU to yield to May's demands for immediate talks on a free-trade deal and a transition to it after Brexit.
The test the EU has set is to make "sufficient progress" on agreeing to rights for EU citizens in Britain after Brexit, border arrangements with Ireland and how much London will pay Brussels on its departure.
Echoing Barnier, parliament called on EU leaders by 557 votes to 92 to delay making a decision on that progress "unless there is a major breakthrough".
Critics have pointed to conflicting signals from May, Johnson and others on where negotiating "red lines" lie for Britain.
"Who shall I call in London? Theresa May, Boris Johnson or even David Davis?" Weber asked, describing May's Conservative government as "trapped by their own party quarrels".
"Please no more speeches," he urged her on a day when Johnson, a Brexit campaigner and potential May challenger, was to speak at a party conference.
"Show leadership on content. And the best probably would be, please sack Johnson."
