Prime minister Mark Rutte has urged the European Union to hold talks on its future without the United Kingdom, warning Brussels that it cannot go back to ‘business as usual’ after Brexit.

In a message posted on Facebook, Rutte said he had discussed the Netherlands’ relations with the UK on the phone with new British prime minister Theresa May.

‘I have assured May that these were good, are good and will remain good,’ Rutte said. ‘There are innumerable connections between the Netherlands and the UK, historic, cultural and economic.’

Article 50

Rutte made it clear he wanted the UK to begin the exit negotiations by triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty ‘as soon as possible’, while recognising that May needed time to prepare the ‘complex and irreversible’ talks. The British government has indicated it will not invoke Article 50 until next year.

The prime minister said the remaining member states needed to consider the future direction of the union in the absence of one of its most populous and influential members. He singled out cross-border counter-terrorism and job creation in a strengthened internal market as priority areas.

Rutte also said any measures should focus on practical reform rather than grand designs for a united Europe. ‘The Netherlands will benefit not from visions of the future, but from stability and economic growth,’ he said.