The European Union will not bow to British "threats" that it is prepared to walk away from Brexit talks without a deal, the bloc's president Donald Tusk said Wednesday.

"We will not be intimidated by threats and I can assure you they simply will not work," Tusk told the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.

"The claims, increasingly taking the form of threats, that no agreement will be good for the UK and bad for the EU, need to be addressed," Tusk said.

"I want to be clear that a no-deal scenario would be bad for everyone but above all for the UK."

British Prime Minister Theresa May said in January that she was ready to leave the EU without a deal on future relations if necessary.

More at AFP.