French presidential hopeful Emmanuel Macron is ‘good bet for Brexit,’ says Tory MP Crispin Blunt
FRENCH Presidential hopeful Emmanuel Macron will take a tough line with the UK over Brexit should he win the next election.
The 39-year-old is seen as a potential saviour of their troubled European Union after saying that Britain can’t have the “best of two worlds.”
Mr Macron has pledged to start a “rebirth” of the European project with his pledge to strengthen EU external borders with a 5,000 strong force, maintain the Schengen free-travel zone and appoint a finance minister for the eurozone.
He wants to see a hard Brexit where Britain leaves the single market, with no free movement, and a completely renegotiated trade deal.
Yet last night Tory MP Crispin Blunt, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, said Pro-EU Mr Macron could boost Britain’s chances of a decent Brexit deal.
Speaking before the election last Sunday, he said: “I am attached to a strict approach to Brexit: I respect the British vote but the worst thing would be a sort of weak EU vis-a-vis the British.
“I don’t want a tailor-made approach where the British have the best of two worlds. “That will be too big an incentive for others to leave and kill the European idea, which is based on shared responsibilities.”
Macron faces far-right Marine Le-Pen in the second election in two weeks time.
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Le-Pen’s National Front party are anti-EU and would like to see France have it’s own ‘Frexit’ vote.
However Macron has already started courting Britain’s best talents - as he hopes to lure them to France after the UK leaves the EU.
On a tour to Downing Street in February, Macron said: "I was very happy to see that some academics and researchers in the UK because of Brexit are considering coming to France to work.
"It will be part of my programme to be attractive for these kinds of people.
"I want banks, talents, researchers, academics and so on.
"I think that France and the European Union are a very attractive space now so in my programme I will do everything I can to make it attractive and successful."