British MEPs will be required to work for eight weeks after Brexit day, European Parliament says

British MEPs will not be able to quit on Brexit day, a report for the European Parliament has said. 

They will be "legally required" to complete their mandates and work for about eight weeks after the UK leaves the European Union.

Elections for Members of the European Parliament are due to take place next May, after the UK leaves the European Union.

A new report, entitled “The institutional consequences of a ‘hard Brexit'” by Professor Federico Fabbrini of Dublin City University, argues MEPs represent EU citizens as a whole, not individual countries - and will therefore be required to serve out their full terms.

“The European Parliament today represents European citizens and not citizens of the EU Member States," the report says.

"There are legal requirements to claim that the members of the European parliament elected in the UK should maintain their seats for the short period of time that extends beyond Brexit and before the elections of the European Parliament."

There are now 73 UK MEPs. Elections take place every five years.

Nigel Farage, the MEP and former Ukip leader, told Politico: “Is this a joke?” before saying he will not be staying after the UK leaves the EU.

The UK will save £109 million by not taking part in next year's European Parliament elections, the Government has said.

György Schöpflin, a Hungarian MEP, questioned the proposal at a hearing in the Parliament. “They [British MEPs] will not represent U.K. citizens because the United Kingdom will no longer be part of the European Union," he said. "How then will they actually identify their constituents for their remaining eight weeks, assuming that they want to? I think we are almost looking at an Alice and Wonderland kind of scenario here."