British planes could be stopped from landing in the EU if Brexit talks fail, according to Jean-Claude Juncker.

The European Commission president said at a public meeting in Freiburg: "Sometimes I have the impression that the British think that it's us quitting Great Britain, but it's exactly the other way around.

"There never was a real referendum campaign in Britain in the sense of an information campaign.

"The British, including government ministers, are only now discovering how many questions it raises.

"If talks [on air transport] go wrong, then no more British airplanes can land on the continent.


"People didn't know that, and they should probably have been told."

There could also be a four-day quarantine placed on pet dogs and cats from the UK into continental Europe with the same on their return journey, Mr Juncker added.

"I ask myself what is going to happen to the 250,000 dogs and cats who leave the European continent each year," he said.

"Right now they just pass through the customs, all these dogs and cats coming to mainland Europe each year.

"There are lots of people in Europe who just want people and animals to just cross borders, but I think we are going to have a four-day quarantine.

"If you want to go to Brittany for eight days for holidays, then maybe you need to leave the dog or cat at home, or maybe you will stay home altogether."

His words come as a Tory MP revealed that three ministers secretly support his call for a fresh Brexit referendum.

Phillip Lee, who resigned as a justice minister earlier this year to speak out over the UK's exit from the EU, urged fellow Conservative MPs and concerned businesses to go public with their wish for a second vote.

Speaking at a fringe event hosted by the People's Vote campaign at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, Dr Lee hit out at the "ludicrous decision" to bar the gathering from the main conference venue and to not list it in the conference guide.

He asked: "What is it that's feared? Is it because there's a threat that actually this is getting some momentum?"

Dr Lee suggested there is wider support among Tory MPs, and even within government, for a second EU referendum than those who have openly declared their backing.

"It's about time the private conversations we're having with colleagues but also with business started being more public," he told the packed meeting.

Image: Anna Soubry addressed the packed fringe event at the Conservative Party conference

Dr Lee added: "I suspect there are significant numbers of colleagues who can see the argument for a second vote.

"I know of three ministers who do, I've had direct conversations with.

"But it is a difficult environment for them to come out and I understand that and I respect that because I didn't feel it easy at all."

Dr Lee appeared at the event alongside fellow Conservative ex-ministers Anna Soubry and Justine Greening, as well as former Tory MP Neil Carmichael.

The former GP used a medical analogy to explain his support for a new vote on Brexit.

"In 2016 the pathologist report came out to say, there's this cancer," he said.

"Then in 2018, the report says 'oh, it's not actually a cancer anymore, it's benign'. Do you proceed?

June 2018 - Justice minister Phillip Lee quits over Brexit

"The problem with this is I'm not convinced, at all, that enough information was known about what Brexit entailed."

Ms Soubry backed up Dr Lee's assertion of the impact of Brexit on the Tories.

She said: "I have been into our party's conference arena and I have seen, frankly, not enough women there, not enough of the more middle-aged and older people there, not enough brown faces there and not enough black faces there either.

"What is happening to this great party of ours? The simple truth is Brexit has done many bad things for our country and we haven't even left yet."