French minister warns Brexit would ‘make UK like Guernsey’

Leaving the European Union would make the United Kingdom as significant as Guernsey, France's economy minister has warned.

“Leaving the EU would mean the ‘Guernseyfication’ of the UK, which would then be a little country on the world scale,” Emmanuel Macron told Le Monde newspaper. “It would isolate itself and become a trading post and arbitration place at Europe’s border.”

He added that the European Council would have to deliver an ultimatum to the UK about the consequences of a Brexit and that French President Francois Hollande would be very clear.

“If the UK wants a treaty of commercial access to the European market, the British will have to contribute to the European budget like the Norwegians or the Swiss. If London doesn’t want that, then the exit will have to be total,” he said.

Macron later told RTL radio that the British referendum marked the end of an era for the EU.

“I believe in Europe, but in its reorganisation,” he said. “It’s the end of an ultra-liberal Europe that has lost its political direction. The European project cannot only be a system of abolishing rules.”

He said that the debate in the UK was about correcting the effect of ultra-liberal policies “they have pushed us into” and said that Europe should “act fast to avoid other countries starting a similar process:.

“There must be no question of Denmark, the Netherlands, Poland, deciding they want the same status,” he said.

Macron's comments were published after comments by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who suggested that Prime Minister David Cameron, who favours staying in the EU, may have called the referendum to "blackmail" or "scare" Europe.

Putin would not say whether he wanted Britain to leave the EU and said that voters faced a "complicated" choice.