Prime Minister Theresa May reiterated her plan to guarantee the rights of Poles and other EU citizens currently living in Britain, so long as the rights of British citizens living across the Europe are also guaranteed.

Speaking after the first summit with her Polish counterpart Beata Szydlok, Mrs May told a news conference she hoped for an "early agreement" on the commitment to providing certainty to Poles in the UK and praised the "significant contribution" Polish people made to Britain.

Mrs May said that the two leaders had discussed their bilateral cooperation, shared security threats and the UK's preparations for Brexit during the "excellent" summit.

She also confirmed the UK would be sending 150 troops to Poland in April 2017 to deter Russian aggression, reconfirming both nations' commitment to Nato's role in ensuring security in Europe.

She said: "The relation between Poland the United Kingdom is important to both the prosperity and the security of our countries. And as the UK leaves the EU I am determined to strengthen this partnership.

"We also want to strengthen ties between the people of Poland and the United Kingdom. Just now we welcomed members of the Polish community here to Downing Street and paid tribute to the significant contribution they make to our nation from business to medicine; academia to the arts."

Mrs May confirmed she still planned to trigger Article 50 by the end of March next year, despite mounting challenges.

She said: "I have updated the prime minister and her team on the work we are doing on Brexit. Since we last met in July, the UK has made significant progress to prepare for negotiations and I will trigger Article 50 before the end of March next year.

"I've also reiterated my plan to guarantee the rights of Poles and other Europeans currently living in the UK so long as the rights of British citizens living across the EU are guaranteed."

Poland is the UK's leading trading partner in central Europe, with bilateral trade worth £15bn last year. Mrs May said the two countries have "agreed to build on that solid basis of economic cooperation with new initiatives to support small business".

The prime minister said that the two countries would work together to combat cyber security with a partnership between Oxford University and Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński in Warsaw.