Brexit a product of ‘lies and false promises’, Macron says in New Year’s message

French president uses annual address to insist UK will remain a ‘friend and ally’ to its neighbour

French president Emmanuel Macron has said that Brexit is the product of “lies and false promises”.

Mr Macron used his annual New Year’s message to the people of France to assure them that the UK will remain a friend and ally after its exit from the European Union.

But he questioned the idea that Britain’s sovereignty will be strengthened by its departure from the EU, which was formally completed at 11pm on New Year’s Eve with the transition out of the single market and customs union and the framework of Brussels rules and regulations.

And he insisted that France’s destiny was as part of Europe.

Mr Macron was seen in London as the main obstacle to the finalisation of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement accepted by Boris Johnson on Christmas Eve, after he battled to protect the rights of France’s fishing fleet to continue taking catches in UK territorial waters.

The final deal - which saw the EU share of fish cut by just 25 per cent over five years, rather than the 80 per cent over three years initially demanded by the UK - was greeted as a betrayal by Britain’s fishing community, and Mr Macron said that it had protected the interests of France’s fishermen, as well as other industries.

In a video address from the Elysee Palace, Mr Macron said: “This evening, for the first time, a country - the United Kingdom - is leaving the European Union.

“A few days ago, we reached an agreement to organise our future relations, defending our interests, our industries, our fishermen and our unity.

“The United Kingdom remains our neighbour but also our friend and ally. This choice of leaving Europe, this Brexit, was the child of European malaise and lots of lies and false promises.

“I want to tell you very clearly this evening, our destiny is first of all in Europe. Our sovereignty is national and I will do everything to ensure we remain the masters of our destiny and our lives. But this sovereignty also acts through the stronger, more autonomous and more united EU that we have built in 2020.”

EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier - who has described Brexit as a divorce which is nothing to celebrate - suggested the UK has tough times ahead.

Mr Barnier said that “when you see today's world, a dangerous, unstable and unjust world, I definitely think that it is better to be together, with our neighbours in a union, a single market, than everyone being in their own corner, with their own interests.”