Consquences have not been explained to British public

Michel Barnier has said he intends to “teach the British people... what leaving the EU means” in a speech to a private business gathering.

The BBC reported that the chief EU negotiator told the conference in Italy that the UK must honour a commitment it made in 2014 to pay 14 per cent of the EU budget until 2020.

Mr Barnier said he sees the process as an opportunity to “teach the British people and others what leaving the EU means”.

“There are extremely serious consequences of leaving the single market and it hasn’t been explained to the British people,” he is reported to have told the Ambrosetti forum on Saturday. “I have astateofmind–notaggressive – but I’m not naïve.”

Former cabinet minister John Redwood condemned Mr Barnier’s “disobliging language” and said it was “very sad that the EU does not appear to be listening to the British people”.

The comments were also criticised by Liberal Democrat Brexit spokesman Tom Brake, who said they were “an unfortunate turn of phrase”.

“As silly season ends and both the UK and EU parliaments get back to work, I hope we start to see some serious grown-up progress,” he added.