U.K. Tory leadership candidate Theresa May won't invoke Brexit legal process this year

Two leading contenders to be thenext British prime minister disagreed publicly on Sunday on howquickly negotiations should be triggered to plan a departurefrom the European Union.

Interior minister Theresa May, the front-runner whocampaigned for a "Remain" vote in the June 23 referendum, saidBritain needed to have a clear negotiating position and shewould not be rushed into starting the formal exit process thisyear.

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Junior energy minister Andrea Leadsom, who has emerged as a strong rival to May from the "Leave" camp, struck a more urgentnote, saying Britain had to "get a grip and make progress."

Britons voted by 52 to 48 per cent to leave the bloc it hadjoined in 1973, defeating a campaign led by Prime Minister DavidCameron, who announced his resignation the following morning.

Adding to the political turbulence, the vast majority of themain centre-left opposition Labour Party's lawmakers openlydenounced their leader Jeremy Corbyn as unfit for the job but hehas refused to resign, citing grassroots support.

Five candidates are vying to succeed Cameron as ConservativeParty leader and prime minister. The field will be whittled downto two by the party's lawmakers over the summer, before partymembers pick the winner by Sept. 9.

Stronglead, but no coronation for May

May has established an early lead, gaining the support ofmore than 100 legislators, reports said on Sunday, four times asmany as any other candidate.

But her critics, including rivals Leadsom and JusticeSecretary Michael Gove, said the next leader needed to come fromthe winning "Leave" side of the EU debate.

May, who vowed to honour the vote when she launched her bidon Thursday, said Britain needed a leader who could bring thecountry back together.

"(People) are not looking for a prime minister who is just aBrexit prime minister, but a prime minister who can govern forthe whole of the country," she said in an interview on ITV.

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The shock decision to leave the EU has pushed the pound to30-year lows and raised concerns that the British economy couldgo into reverse.

Media reports on Sunday suggested that some Conservativelegislatorswanted Leadsom and other candidates to stand aside sothat May could be installed quickly in Downing Street toestablish stability and start making progress towardBrexit.

But May said she did not favour the "coronation" scenario.""I think there should be a contest," she said.

'We've got to be clear'

EU leaders have been putting pressure on Britain to trigger Article 50 quickly to set the exit process in motion and avoid aprolonged period of uncertainty that is also destabilising forthe other 27 member states.

Once the article is invoked, the clock starts ticking for anexit deal to be agreed within two years.

"We've got to be clear about what our negotiating stance isbefore we trigger that Article 50, because once we trigger itthen all the processes start," said May.

But former banker Leadsom, who was one of the mostpassionate advocates of Brexit during the referendum campaign,said she would move as quickly as possible.

Message to world, 'we'reopen for business'

"It's about giving certainty to businesses, it's aboutsaying to the world 'we're open for business'," she told BBC TV.

"We need to get on with it, we need to get a grip and makeprogress."

Leadsom, who is not well known to many Britons, is eclipsingher senior colleague Gove, whose own campaign is struggling toescape the charges of betrayal towards leading "Leave"campaigner Boris Johnson.

Gove withdrew his support for former London mayor Johnsonand decided to run against his former ally on Thursday.

The final choice of leader, and Britain's next primeminister, will come down to a vote of about 150,000 members ofthe Conservative Party.

A poll of Conservative voters in the Mail on Sundaynewspaper gave May overwhelming 86 per cent support in ahead-to-head against Leadsom.