Could Brexit be stopped? EU chief Donald Tusk says 'door remains open' for UK

European Council President Donald Tusk has hinted the UK's split from the economic and political bloc could be stopped, as he quoted John Lennon's Imagine during a press conference in Brussels, Belgium, on Thursday 22 June.

"Some of my British friends have even asked me whether Brexit could be reversed, and whether I could imagine an outcome where the UK stays part of the EU," he said.

"I told them that in fact the European Union was built on dreams that seemed impossible to achieve. So, who knows? You may say I'm a dreamer, but I am not the only one."

The comments came just three days after after divorce negotiations between the UK and the EU began, with Brexit Secretary David Davis and chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier agreeing a timetable .

"It is a most difficult process, for which the EU is well prepared," he said. "We can hear different predictions, coming from different people, about the possible outcome of these negotiations: hard Brexit, soft Brexit or no deal."

The remarks also follow French President Emmanuel Macron's statement that the "door remained open" to the UK. But despite the comments from Macron and Tusk, the UK government plans to press on with the two-year-long negotiations, with a string of Brexit-related bills unveiled in the Queen's Speech.

Theresa May, meanwhile, is hoping to bounce back from her general election blow. The PM called for the 8 June vote in a bid to strengthen her hand at the negotiating table, but the Conservatives were left without a majority of MPs in the House of Commons.

The Tories are currently hoping to seal a "confidence and supply" deal with the pro-Brexit Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in a bid to stay in power as a minority government.

The latest poll from Survation, of more than 1,000 people between 16 and 17 June, found that 57% of respondents opposed a second referendum on the UK's Brexit terms, while 38% of people backed another plebiscite.

Labour, who backed a Brexit at the general election, have urged the government to seek tariff-free access to the EU's single-market. But, crucially, the party has admitted that the free movement of people from the EU would have to stop after the UK splits from the bloc.