16:29

While Theresa May was on a flight from Berlin to Paris to meet Emmanuel Macron, the Elysee briefed that the “good cop, bad cop” narrative in which France was being portrayed as nasty was a red herring. “The proof is that we are looking hard for solutions,” a source in Macron’s office said.

“But France is firm on the principles, yes, that’s true,” the source said.

Paris said that this meant protecting the future workings of the EU. Any long extension beyond the European parliament elections would require “very strict guarantees” that the UK “as an exiting member state” would not fully take part in or disrupt key European council or commission decisions on the future of the EU.

The source said this would mean limits being placed on the UK’s participation in European council and commission business, but not in the European parliament.

The UK would need to agree to these guarantees and agree to regular checks on the UK’s “good faith” every three or four months.

Asked about the length of a possible extension to the UK’s exit date, the French source said: “We think one year would be too long.”

Macron is also concerned that Brexit must not continue to dominate EU business. A source at the Elysee palace said:

We cannot keep holding repeat Brexit summits. The EU has other things to do. Only a few weeks before the European elections, the EU must show that it knows how to do other things than holding summits about Brexit.