• Exclusive: The UK government has turned down two weeks worth of Brexit negotiating time, despite calling for talks to accelerate.
• Theresa May said last week that she wants talks to increase in "pace and intensity" after the UK and EU failed to make significant progress in talks at last weeks European Council summit.
• However, talks will not start again until Monday, July 16 because the UK is "not available" until then, a senior EU source has told Business Insider.
• May's government will instead spend today at May official retreat in Chequers negotiating with each other on Brexit.
• Labour described the government's decision not to spend this week and next in Brexit talks with the EU as "deeply disturbing."

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LONDON - Theresa May's government turned down requests by the EU to resume Brexit negotiations both this week and next, despite publicly calling for negotiations to accelerate, a senior EU source has told Business Insider.

With just a few months to go until the end of planned negotiations, Prime Minister Theresa May told last week's EU summit that she wanted Brexit negotiations to increase in "pace and intensity" to prevent Britain leaving the EU without a deal.

Michel Barnier, the European Union's chief Brexit negotiator, also told reporters at the summit that more talks were needed to close the "huge, serious divergences" left in negotiations.

However, after failing to make a breakthrough, EU negotiators offered to resume talks with the UK either this week or next, but were told that British negotiators were "not available" until July 16, some two weeks later.

The EU negotiating team have been frustrated by the reluctance of May's government to engage, with one senior source telling BI that EU negotiators had met with Davis just three times in 2018 - twice at the EU's base in Brussels, and once in London.

In total, the Financial Times revealed last week that David Davis, the UK Brexit Secretary, had engaged in just four hours of negotiations with his Brussels counterparts this year.

The UK Labour party urged the government to re-engage with talks.

Shadow Brexit Minister, Matthew Pennycook, told BI that the government should "get back around the negotiating table as soon as possible" adding that "if these reports are accurate, then this is a deeply disturbing decision by the Government.

"The clock is ticking on the Article 50 process and the continued uncertainty is putting jobs and the economy at risk."

A spokesperson for the Department for Exiting the EU insisted that the UK was "making good progress" in negotiations, and said that: "we are confident that we are well on the way to achieving the new partnership we want with the EU."

Both sides want to agree on a withdrawal deal by the European Council's October summit. Taking into account the UK Parliament's summer holidays and other factors, this means just weeks remain for negotiations.

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