Emmanuel Macron is backing a controversial move by Tory and Labour MPs to join forces to counter the risk of Brexit fuelling a rise in UK extremism. The French President has endorsed a bid by Theresa May's former No 10 policy chief to forge a new cross-party 'coalition' of MPs opposed to a 'no-deal Brexit'. Tory MP George Freeman says the UK faces a 'Black Monday' economic meltdown if, as an increasing number of politicians predict, it withdraws from the EU without an agreement in March. Scroll down for video Emmanuel Macron addressed a ketter to George Freeman MP who he is seen here meeting Letter to George Freeman MP from French President Emmanuel Macron dated July 31 Mr Macron's letter in English The President of the Republic, MP George Freeman, I have received the correspondence by which you invite me to deliver a speech at the Big Tent Ideas Festival, to be held on the 7th and 8th in Cambridge. Sensitive to your approach, I thank you very much. Like you, I am determined to take up the great challenges of the planet in order to build a more secure world, which guarantees more growth of justice and ecology. Also, although the constraints of my schedule unfortunately do not allow me to respond favorably to your kind request, I would like to welcome your initiative and wish you all the best for the success of the new edition of this event. I am convinced that this forum will contribute fully to the reflection on the issues we are jointly facing. In renewing my thanks, I beg you to believe, sir, the assurance of my best feelings. Emmanuel Macron Advertisement Mr Macron has sent a letter of support to a 'Big Tent' political rally being hosted by Mr Freeman in Cambridge next month. Mr Freeman, head of the Conservative Policy Forum, denies it is part of a plan to build a new centre party. He says the aim is to produce 'inspiring new ideas' to ensure post-Brexit Britain is a success. But he linked it to a stark warning that a 'no-deal Brexit' could lead to a repeat of the so called 'Black Wednesday' in 1992 when Britain crashed out of the EU's Exchange Rate Mechanism. John Major's Tory Government never recovered from the ensuing economic crisis – and Labour won the next three General Elections. Mr Freeman says he fears a Brexit 'Black Monday' would do the same and result in Jeremy Corbyn leading a minority 'Hard-Left' Government. If it did, Mr Freeman says Tory MPs like him could form a 'coalition' with moderate Labour MPs to keep Mr Corbyn out of No 10. Former British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson in Central London on Tuesday 14th August Equally, if it resulted in a minority 'Hard-Right' Tory Government led by Boris Johnson or Jacob Rees-Mogg, moderate Conservative MPs could join forces with Labour MPs to keep them out of power too. Leading Tory and Labour figures are to attend Mr Freeman's 'Big Tent' event, which is being co-hosted by Baroness Sally Morgan, a former No 10 aide to Tony Blair. Harriet Harman, ex-Blairite Minister Liam Byrne and anti-Corbyn Labour MP Ian Austin will rub shoulders with Cabinet Ministers Michael Gove and Liz Truss. Scots Conservative leader Ruth Davidson has pledged her support. Mr Macron came to power after breaking away from France's Left-wing Socialist Party with his En Marche (Forward) movement, which crushed the Hard-Right Front National. He has been called a 'French Tony Blair'. Mr Freeman, a descendant of Liberal Prime Minister William Gladstone, said he was 'delighted' to have Mr Macron's support, though some are bound to accuse the President of meddling in British politics. Emmanuel Macron greets Theresa May before a working dinner at the Elysee Palace in Paris In an interview with The Mail on Sunday, the MP said: 'We must recast the language and vision of Brexit. It should be a noble end not a divisive and triumphalist divorce. We will not be thanked by people – even those who voted for Brexit – who were told they were going to become richer if they become poorer. Unless we build a big tent in the centre for those alienated by Hard-Left Corbynism or Hard-Right (Nigel) Farageism, the Tories will end up as a teepee party piling up votes in traditional heartlands but losing its backbone support in London, from the professional classes, doctors, teachers, science and business.' The MP, who backed Remain in the EU referendum, insisted he did not wish to reverse Brexit and denied his 'Black Monday' forecast was part of 'Project Fear.' Britain formally leaves the EU at 11pm UK time on Friday, March 29. The impact will be clearer when the markets open on Monday, April 1. Mr Freeman explained why a 'no-deal' outcome would be a catastrophe for the nation – and the Tories. 'If we get Brexit wrong and crash out without a proper transition agreement, we risk a Black Monday. The sight of a Conservative Government pushed into no-deal and losing control will look to a whole generation like the disastrous Black Wednesday in 1992 which we paid for with 15 years in opposition. We would be seen to have abandoned our core pillar of economic competence.' Emmanuel Macron has been called a 'French Tony Blair'. Pictured here in 2017 Mr Freeman favours a 'Norway style' Brexit, with the UK paying to stay in the European Economic Area – coupled to a five-year ban on immigrants claiming welfare in Britain. His main fear is that a 'no-deal' Brexit could lead to Corbyn scraping into Downing Street without an overall majority. He says in that event, Blairite Labour MPs would be ready to 'abandon' the Labour leader. But they would only join forces with the Conservatives if the Tories were a 'sensible One Nation style' party – not a 'narrow, isolationist, nationalistic Ukip-style' party. 'We could reach across to moderate Blairites looking down the barrel of a Corbyn Hard-Left minority Government and say 'come and join us in a coalition for prosperity',' said Mr Freeman.<doc-sep>For the first time in centuries then, a French leader has the chance to either throw a British prime minister a rope or cut her adrift. The stakes for Britain could not be higher: Its decades of membership in the EU mean that leaving the single market would severely disrupt its economy. Its supply chains are so integrated with Europe’s that simple “third country” border checks on goods imported into the country would cripple entire industries built on “just in time” deliveries of components from the Continent. This is why May is desperately seeking a compromise that would allow Britain to stay in the single market just for goods. But the EU’s position—that Britain should accept the full terms of single-market membership, including the free movement of labor—has effectively ruled out the Chequers plan. Britain’s Gordian knot is May: She promised to implement the result of the 2016 referendum, explicitly interpreting it as a demand to end free movement. Downing Street has warned Germany and above all France that compromise is necessary to stave off a potentially catastrophic “no deal” Brexit. Such an outcome would see Britain crash out of the bloc without an agreement, throwing havoc into complex supply chains, border crossings, and financial flows across the Channel. To many in Paris, this sounds like blackmail. But May appears to have little chance of convincing Macron to back the Chequers plan. Those familiar with his thinking have told me he views the threat to the single market stemming from any breakup of the EU’s cherished “Four Freedoms”—the free movement of goods, capital, services, and labor—as existential. Britain must accept all of the Four Freedoms, including the free movement of labor, if it wants to preserve the free movement of goods, those familiar with Macron’s thinking have told me. This, they said, is because Macron feels that the EU is too fragile to offer Britain a special deal allowing it to cherry pick which one of the Four Freedoms it wants. France’s own populist menace plays a role here. British officials have failed to grasp that Macron views the EU’s redlines against Brexit as a necessary warning to anyone else wishing to break up the bloc—as a means of dissuading anyone at home from thinking Frexit is even a remote possibility. For Macron, being tough on Brexit is being tough on Le Pen. Conversely, a flurry of his opponents on the right who want to undermine the European Commission have called for a compromise. Despite this, British officials have frantically pointed to the precedent of Switzerland, or the Channel Islands, or the EU’s own backstop plan for Northern Ireland, where compromises on the Four Freedoms have been made, to suggest that the Chequers plan could work. French officials, just like Barnier, continue to dismiss these ideas, politely reminding the British that the EU chief negotiator is not his own free agent, but the representative of the EU’s member states. In an ominous statement yesterday, the Élysée emphasized that the Brégançon meeting was not a negotiation and no substitute for talks with Barnier.<doc-sep>Emmanuel Macron, the French president, on Monday said preserving European Union unity was more important than forging a close relationship with post-Brexit Britain, and hit out at what he called US President Donald Trump's "aggressive" isolationism. Mr Macron, who met Theresa May, the prime minister, for talks on Britain's departure from the EU during the summer holiday, said he wanted to reach a Brexit deal by the end of the year and showed no signs of breaking ranks with other EU capitals. "France wants to maintain a strong, special relationship with London but not if the cost is the European Union's unravelling," he told a gathering of French ambassadors. On Brexit, Mr Macron said, "is a sovereign choice, which we must respect, but it can't come at the expense of the European Union's integrity." In a 90-minute speech outlining his diplomatic priorities for the year ahead, Mr Macron made no major policy shifts, but spoke forcefully on what he labelled the "crisis of multilateralism" and the need to make Europe more "sovereign".<doc-sep>Emmanuel Macron has dealt Theresa May a major blow by rejecting the PM's plea to rescue her Brexit plan, ruling out any compromises that risk the EU “unravelling”. In his first response to their emergency talks, the French president said he respected the UK’s decision to leave the bloc – but vowed to protect the EU’s “integrity” at all costs. The comments appear to be a severe setback to Ms May’s hopes that the pair’s surprise talks earlier this month could achieve a breakthrough to rescue her beleaguered Chequers proposals. Significantly, No 10 had refused to say whether any progress had been made, at an island fortress off the French Mediterranean coast – beyond describing it as “a good meeting”. Speaking to France’s diplomatic corps, Mr Macron showed no sign of breaking ranks – in a speech in which he also lashed out at Donald Trump's “aggressive” isolationism. “France wants to maintain a strong, special relationship with London but not if the cost is the European Union's unravelling," he told the gathering of ambassadors. Brexit, Mr Macron said, “is a sovereign choice, which we must respect, but it can't come at the expense of the European Union's integrity”. Downing Street played down the implications, insisting: “We remain confident of securing a good deal that is firmly in the interests of both the UK and the EU.” But Ian Murray, a Labour MP supporting the People’s Vote campaign for a fresh Brexit referendum, said Mr Macron’s response had left the Chequers plan “dead in the water”. “It is filled with contradictions and can clearly satisfy neither her own MPs nor our European negotiating partners,” Mr Murray said. “Persisting with the Chequers car crash, and praying for a last-minute change of heart from the EU, is not a credible negotiating strategy. It simply increases the chances of a disastrous no deal Brexit.” And Tom Brake, the Liberal Democrat Brexit spokesman said: “The prime minister’s ridiculed Chequers deal has been given its verdict. It is a no in the UK, and a 'non' in France. It is 'nul points' from Macron. "Theresa May is now fast running out of options, leaving the UK facing the harsh consequences of her Brexit mess.” Brexit casualties Show all 10 1 /10 Brexit casualties Brexit casualties Andrea Jenkyns - Resigned from Parliamentary Private Secretary at the ministry for housing, communities and local government role May 2018 - The Morley and Outwood MP said: “We want to see a new relationship with Europe, with a new model not enjoyed by other countries – nothing that leaves us half-in, half-out. “And in order to achieve this, we need to leave the customs union.” Ms Jenkyn’s also said she wished to dedicate more of her time to Parliament’s influential Exiting the European Union select committee, after a series of “unbalanced” reports produced by MPs PA Brexit casualties David Davis - Resigned from Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union role July 2018 - quit following a major row with May over her plans for post-Brexit relations with the EU. Davis resignation letter said: “As you know there have been a significant number of occasions in the last year or so on which I have disagreed with the Number 10 policy line, ranging from accepting the [European] Commission’s sequencing of negotiations, through to the language on Northern Ireland in the December Joint Report. “At each stage I have accepted collective responsibility because it is part of my task to find workable compromises, and because I considered it was still possible to deliver on the mandate of the referendum, and on our manifesto commitment to leave the Customs Union and the Single Market. “I am afraid that I think the current trend of policy and tactics is making that look less and less likely.” He went on to argue that the “general direction” of Ms May’s policies would leave the UK “in at best a weak negotiating position, and possibly an inescapable one”. AFP/Getty Brexit casualties Steve Baker - Resigned from Minister at the Department for Exiting the European Union role July 2018 - Mr Baker, a key Tory figure in the Leave campaign, was David Davis’s main lieutenant at Dexeu, and was hailed as ”courageous and principled” by other Brexiteer Tories as he also left. Reuters Brexit casualties Boris Johnson - Resigned from Foreign Secretary role July 2018 - resigned over May's Chequers plan. In his resignation letter to the prime minister, Mr Johnson said: "On Friday, I acknowledged that my side of the argument were too few to prevail and congratulated you on at least reaching a Cabinet decision on the way forward. "As I said then, the government now has a song to sing. "The trouble is that I have practised the words over the weekend and find that they stick in the throat." Reuters Brexit casualties Conor Burns - Resigned from Parliamentary Private Secretary to Foreign Secretary role July 2018 - A Brexit supporter who worked alongside Boris Johnson stated in his resignation letter: “I've decided it's time to have greater freedom. I want to see the referendum result respected. And there are other areas of policy I want to speak more openly on.” Rex Brexit casualties Chris Green - Resigned from Department for Transport role July 2018 - The Bolton West MP said: "Parliament overwhelmingly decided to give the decision of whether to leave or remain in the European Union to the British people and they made an unambiguous decision that we ought to leave. "I have always understood the idea in 'Brexit means Brexit' is that the final deal should be clear to me and my constituents - that we have, in no uncertain terms, left the European Union. Twitter Ads info and privacy "The direction the negotiations had been taking have suggested that we would not really leave the EU and the conclusion and statements following the Chequers summit confirmed my fears. "I recognise that delivering Brexit is challenging, however I had hoped at tonight's meeting that there would be some certainty that my fears were unfounded but, instead, they have been confirmed.<doc-sep>
Philippe Wojazer, POOL, AFP | French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech during the annual ambassadors' conference at the Élysée Palace in Paris on August 27, 2018. President Emmanuel Macron on Monday said preserving European Union unity was more important than forging a close relationship with post-Brexit Britain, and hit out at what he called US President Donald Trump’s “aggressive” isolationism. Advertising Read more Macron, who met Prime Minister Theresa May for talks on Britain’s departure from the EU during the summer, said he wanted to reach a Brexit deal by the end of the year and showed no signs of breaking ranks with other EU capitals. “France wants to maintain a strong, special relationship with London but not if the cost is the European Union’s unravelling,” he told a gathering of French ambassadors. 'There is more of an urgency in this year's speech' by Macron, says France 24's Douglas Herbert Brexit, Macron said, “is a sovereign choice, which we must respect, but it can’t come at the expense of the European Union’s integrity”. In a one-and-a-half hour speech outlining his diplomatic priorities for the year ahead, Macron made no major policy shifts, but spoke forcefully on what he labelled the “crisis of multilateralism” and the need to make Europe more “sovereign”. Macron called on Europe to be “a trade and economic power”, which defends its strategic interests and financial independence with tools that can fend off US extraterritorial sanctions. 'The French strategy is to get the UK on board' “Multilateralism is going through a major crisis which collides with all our diplomatic activity, above all because of US policy,” he said. “The partner with whom Europe built the new post-World War order appears to be turning its back on this shared history,” he said. In his first year, Macron banked on nurturing relationships with awkward leaders such as US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin, appearing engaged on the world stage but often remaining non-committal and trying to mediate without unsettling anyone. Europe can no longer entrust its security to the United States alone. Today, it is up to us to assume our responsibilities and to guarantee security – and thereby European sovereignty. - President @EmmanuelMacron #ConfAmbass https://t.co/kCY88OEfIj France Diplomacy🇫🇷 (@francediplo_EN) August 27, 2018 That approach has been tested after Trump shunned Macron and other allies, pulling out of a global climate pact, imposing extraterritorial sanctions on Iran, and imposing tariffs on EU steel and aluminium. In Syria, despite French strikes, the French leader has had little influence over Putin. Meanwhile, French forces’ operations to combat an Islamist uprising in West Africa, started under Macron’s predecessor and made a priority by the 40-year old, have struggled to root out jihadists in Mali and neighbouring countries. (FRANCE 24 with REUTERS) Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning Subscribe