BREXIT should be delayed if a trade deal cannot be struck by the end of the two-year negotiation process, business chiefs have said.

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) also called for firms to be allowed freedom to continue recruiting skilled and low-skilled workers from the European Union after the UK has broken away from Brussels.

Prime Minister Theresa May has pledged to trigger Article 50 by the end of March and hopes to complete a trade deal alongside the agreement on the divorce from the EU.

The BCC said concluding both parts of the deal within the two years allowed by Article 50 would be the “ideal outcome”, but “should this prove impossible, we should seek an extension to the negotiating period to enable completion of both agreements concurrently”.

It comes after Sir John Major said the chance of no agreement being reached within the time limit is “very high”.

The former prime minister attacked Mrs May for leading the public to expect a future outside the European Union that is “unreal and over-optimistic”.

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Meanwhile, the Government shot down the first challenge in the House of Lords against its plan to formally trigger the negotiations. Peers voted by 299 to 136 against an amendment to the Brexit Bill demanding the UK retains membership of the European single market.