THE UK and EU face a “messy divorce” if Brexit talks break down, Jeremy Hunt warned as Britain stepped up efforts to find a breakthrough in the process.

The Foreign Secretary said failure to reach an agreement would be a “terrible mistake” and called for the EU to help find a “pragmatic solution” to the current impasse.

But his Austrian counterpart Karin Kneissl played down Mr Hunt’s warnings that both sides could be heading for an accidental no-deal Brexit although she acknowledged that they were “prepared for the different possible scenarios”.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Theresa May decided to cut short her holiday in the Italian Lakes to hold a face-to-face meeting with Emmanuel Macron, one of Europe’s key power brokers, in a bid to find a breakthrough.

She will travel to the south of France to meet the French president at his Fort de Bregancon country retreat on the Mediterranean coast on Friday.

Mr Hunt’s visit to Austria coincides with the country holding the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, giving Vienna a key role in deciding the agenda for the bloc’s leaders.

Speaking alongside his Austrian counterpart the Foreign Secretary said: “Austria has a special role because of its EU presidency and so all we say is, looking at your huge experience of foreign policy and historical knowledge, let’s not make this one of those moments where a terrible mistake is made which we are still talking about in 20 or 30 years.

“Let’s have a pragmatic solution that allows that deep and special partnership, friendship, between the UK and Europe to continue.”

In a Twitter message he added: “We want the EU to prosper but there is a real risk of a messy divorce which would be a geostrategic mistake.”

But ahead of their talks Ms Kneissl poured cold water on that suggestion, telling the BBC: “From the (European) Commission’s side, there is a clear-cut schedule, so an accident is not really something people are working for.”

She later said that the talks with Mr Hunt had been “excellent and inspiring”.

And she insisted that the EU will continue to “pursue a pragmatic approach and are prepared for the different possible scenarios of Brexit”.