Macron: We’d let UK stay for sure

Asked at a climate change summit in New York if he UK could remain in the EU if voters overturned the 2016 referendum decision, he replied: “For sure.” 

Saying the French would not create obstacles he added: “This is about history, not about domestic interests.”

President Macron angered British officials at the informal EU summit in Salzburg, Austria, last week by crowing about how difficult the Brexit negotiations had become. 

He urged the EU to block the Chequers” proposal for a trade deal as “not acceptable”.

And attacking Brexiteers, the French president said: “Those who explain that we can easily live without Europe, that everything is going to be all right, and that it’s going to bring a lot of money home are liars.” 

After just 16 months in office, his opinion polls rating has already fallen below that of his Socialist predecessor Francois Hollande. 

But yesterday he dismissed questions about his own plummeting popularity, saying: “I have a big advantage – I don’t have any mid-terms elections. So I am not driven by polls.”