Steve Bannon, while visiting Rome, said that the dream of a closer EU is dead

Italy’s new populist government will create a surge in resentment against Brussels and lead to Eurosceptic voting at next year’s European Union elections, the former White House strategist Steve Bannon has said.

Mr Bannon, who fell out with President Trump and has turned his attentions to defending nationalism and opposing migration in Europe, said on a visit to Rome that a rising tide of populism that put the Five Star-League coalition in power would generate a wave of protest votes next May.

“It’s not the end of the EU, but people want their nations back,” he said. He claimed that populist governments in Europe had ended President Macron of France’s dream of closer EU integration. “His project is dead — Italy and Hungary killed it,”