European Union leaders are meeting on day two of what has become a crisis summit in Brussels, but without the UK after its vote to leave the bloc.The 27 other member states will discuss plans for the UK's EU exit, with the UK absent from negotiations for the first time in 40 years. On Tuesday, UK PM David Cameron said continued trade and security co-operation with the EU would be vital. Germany's Angela Merkel urged the bloc to "respect the result" of the UK vote. She and other leaders also renewed calls for Britain to set out plans for leaving as soon as possible.

Arriving at the talks on Wednesday morning, Charles Michel, the prime minister of Belgium, said the UK "cannot afford the luxury of having a long-drawn-out political crisis". Mr Michel called the Brexit vote a "wake-up call" for the union, which he said needed to make "a bigger effort, in a concrete way, to promote the European project"

 Other leaders called for the remaining 27 nations to pull together to ensure a stable future for the union. "With a disunited United Kingdom, we need a united Europe more than ever," said Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel. Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite said the remaining leaders "need to wake up and smell the coffee".

David Cameron says Britain "will not and should not" turn its back on Europe as it leaves the European Union. After discussing the vote to leave with other EU leaders, he said trade and security co-operation would be vital whatever the shape of future links. But he said immigration was a "great concern" among UK voters and squaring this with access to the EU single market would be a "huge challenge".
Germany's Angela Merkel said the EU must "respect the result" of the vote.

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said the UK did not have "months to meditate" on activating Article 50, which will trigger talks on the country's withdrawal from the EU."If someone from the Remain camp will become British prime minister, this has to be done in two weeks after his appointment," he said."If the next British PM is coming from the Leave campaign, it should be done the day after his appointment."

Mr Cameron had been explaining the outcome of Britain's referendum to the EU's other 27 leaders at a meeting of the European Council, expected to be his last after he announced his intention to stand down in the wake of the Leave vote.

He told reporters the discussions had been "calm, constructive and purposeful".He also said that "while Britain is leaving the European Union, it will not, it should not and in my view it won't turn its back on Europe".

The PM, who has said it will be up to his successor to decide how to proceed with talks on the terms of Britain's separation from the EU, said there was "universal respect" for the UK's decision to leave despite a "tone of sadness and regret".

While the EU wanted more information about the UK's negotiating plans going forward and a "clear model appearing", he said there was an acknowledgement that this would take some time and "no great clamour" for talks to begin straight away.

The prime minister warned that intransigence over freedom of movement could scupper any chance of a UK-EU trade deal with whoever takes over from him, saying there was a "very great concern" over immigration "coupled with sovereignty and the ability to control these things".
He said that he wished he had won the referendum, but it was right to hold it to try to settle the question of the UK's role in the EU.

Mr Cameron said: "You fight for what you believe - if you win, good, If you lose, you have to accept the verdict."He also said Britain and the rest of the EU wanted to have the "closest possible" relationship as the country leaves the union.

Downing Street said his message to EU leaders was that if they want a close economic relationship with the UK after Brexit, they cannot "shy away" from the migration issue.
A government source said: "He believes that one of the key issues in the referendum campaign, and therefore why a lot of people voted to leave, is this sense that there was no control on the scale of immigration and freedom of movement. That was one of the factors."