France warns of migrant flood if Britain exits European Union

LONDON: France warned Britain on Thursday it would end border controls and let thousands of migrants move on to Britain if voters backed leaving the European Union.

It also said it would open its arms to British-based banks wanting to flee a non-EU Britain.

French economy minister Emmanuel Macron echoed comments by British Prime Minister David Cameron that a migrant camp known as the “Jungle” in the northern French coastal town of Calais could move to southern England in the event of a British EU exit.

Speaking ahead of the AngloFrench security summit in Amiens, Macron said a British exit would scupper a border deal that halts migrants in France but that Paris would be happy to accept bankers fleeing London.

“The day this relationship unravels, migrants will no longer be in Calais,” Macron told the Financial Times newspaper, adding that rules allowing Britishbased banks to operate across the EU would be lost.

“Collective energy would be spent on unwinding existing links, not re-creating new ones,” he said, a comment aimed at the view of British eurosceptics that a new deal could be made.

Macron’s comments, which support Cameron’s argument that an EU exit after the June 23 referendum could undermine security, led news reports in Britain, where opinion polls indicate immigration is the biggest concern for voters.

A British exit from the EU would rock the EU — already shaken by differences over migration.