He said that "this was a good sign because by doing that, we demonstrate how healthy and vigorous European democracy is".

The EU says that "sufficient progress" must be made on three key issues before the talks can move on to the next phase: the Irish border, EU citizens' rights and Britain's financial settlement, or "Brexit bill". "We will not agree to pay at 27 what was decided at 28", the Frenchman said.

He said Brexit was: "An opportunity to make sure that all the decisions about the future of this country are taken by our parliament, our courts, our institutions. It is our responsibility as a government to prepare for every eventuality", she said.

The fifth round of Brexit talks is due to start in Brussels on Monday.

European leaders seem aware that the EU can not afford such indecisiveness, with Barnier admitting that European unity can not be "decreed" but only "constructed", and that "the future of the union is much more important than Brexit".

"We need to determine first the terms of the divorce with the United Kingdom and then see into the nature of future relations", the Commission President said.

Although the speech has not been trailed, he is expected to build on an interview last week in which he set out his Brexit demands. Work still needs to be done.

"The question isn't so much around this formal declaration of "sufficient progress".

Some western countries, notably Italy - on the frontline of taking in refugees and migrants from across the Mediterranean - have suggested cutting the generous aid provided to the easterners through the EU budget if they fail to show European "solidarity" over migration.

The non-binding vote comes as Bloomberg reports that Theresa May - under pressure from Brexit supporters for "appeasing" the European Union - is making her Florence offer to fulfil £20 billion in European Union spending commitments after Brexit conditional on a broader deal, putting a successful settlement in serious doubt.

And Mr Barnier appeared to accuse some in Britain of under-estimating the "very heavy human and social, legal, financial, technical and economic consequences" of Brexit.

He, too, played up the U.K.'s post-Brexit prospects, saying he is optimistic about reaching a deal with the European Union, but reiterated the government's position that Britain is willing to walk away from talks without agreement if one can't be reached. "There are divisions between Hammond and Fox and Johnson and May". "We have not yet made the sufficient progress needed". "But the greater the emphasis the EU27 place on the outline of a future free trade deal to move talks onto transition, the more hard this will make life for May, given ongoing divisions within the Conservative Party".

Manfred Weber, the group leader of the largest group in the EP, the People's Party, even called for the sacking of Johnson, who has been seen as undermining prime minister Theresa May since she gave her Brexit strategy speech in Florence two weeks ago.