In speech in Paris he says the two countries have been ‘yoked together’ since the first world war

Jeremy Hunt addressed the awkward coincidence of Brexit and the centenary of the Armistice marking the Anglo-French victory in the first world war by claiming relations between the two countries were bigger than Brexit.

Speaking in French on a visit to Paris, the British foreign secretary said the UK and France would remain “tied by bonds of friendship and commerce for decades to come”.

Before starting his speech, Hunt told a mainly French audience at the British embassy in Paris that he had learned French at school and while working as a porter in a hotel on the Champs-Elysées as a young man.

His 45-minute address went on to emphasise historic Anglo-French relations and his vision for how the relationship would develop post-Brexit.

“This is – to use a little English understatement – an important moment in the future of the relationship between our countries … How that partnership evolves depends on the decisions we make now,” he said.

“I understand that for so many in France the outcome of the referendum was disappointing. I know that in France the Brexit vote is often seen as Britain pulling up the drawbridge, turning its back on Europe and reaching out for ‘the great beyond’. But that is not how we see it.”

The Brexit referendum result, he added, was the result of differing visions of Europe.

“Without a written constitution, and joining the EU not as a founder member, but for primarily economic reasons, our public has always been reluctant about the political character of the union and uncertain about its ultimate destination,” he said.

“That made the experience of the pooling of sovereignty that the EU entails uncomfortable for us – and I think that goes a long way to explaining the result of our referendum.

“Indeed for most British people, their concept of Europe has never been synonymous with the European Union.”

Hunt said the British government must respect the result of the referendum as the “democratic choice” of the British people and insisted: “There will be no second referendum … That would be profoundly undemocratic.”

Hunt said Brexit had to be looked at from both countries’ perspective.

Using the French equivalent of the expression “having one’s cake and eating it”, Hunt said: “We are not, as is sometimes suggested, even occasionally here in France, trying to have the butter and the money to buy the butter [le beurre et l’argent du beurre].”

He was anxious to reassure the French that Britain was not going to “pursue a race to the bottom” in economic relations.

The first world war marked the moment the fate of the British and the French became yoked together, Hunt said. His speech on Thursday and the Armistice Day commemorations in Paris and London on Sunday come days before the UK cabinet is expected to finally meet to agree on the terms of withdrawal from the EU.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has been drawing sharply different lessons from the first world war, arguing it reveals the importance of fighting narrow-minded nationalist solutions to contemporary problems, a theme he is making central to his European parliament election campaign next year. He has likened the period to the 1920s when populist demagogues started to seize power.

The sense of a relationship decoupling was underlined on Tuesday, when the French Senate passed emergency legislation preparing the country’s economy for a British exit from the EU in March without a deal. The vast legislation covers the right of British people to continue working in French companies, the future of road transport between Britain and French ports, future security clearances in the Channel, cross-border payments by banks and the exports of defence-related products.

France is determined to have the contingency measures in place in case an agreement cannot be reached with Britain. The measures will also help safeguard the interests of French nationals who have worked or studied in the UK by ensuring that their periods of employment and pension rights, as well as any qualifications acquired in the UK, are taken into account should they return to France.

But Hunt focused on the ties that still bind the UK with the continent, saying the first world war “was a war that changed our countries and our continent forever”.

He added: “It was a war in which our destinies as nations were yoked together – in which we fought and bled side by side for over four years – and in which, in the end, we prevailed.”

He also pointed to recent signs of Anglo-French cooperation, saying: “We will never forget the moment after the Manchester attack when President Macron walked from the Élysée Palace to the British embassy to express France’s solidarity, and the crowd at the Stade de France sang the British national anthem – nor, when, after the Bataclan attack the crowd at Wembley sang the Marseillaise.”

He claimed it was a relationship of competition and cooperation, similarity and difference. “Indeed my view is that it is precisely that mix that gives it its strength – because we have made a choice – for nearly 200 years – to work together,” he said.

“That is why, after the chemical weapons attack in Salisbury in March, France rallied to the UK’s side, leading a strong and united European response, working together to expel scores of Russian diplomats from our continent.”

France and Britain are the two pre-eminent European military powers and work has been continuing on how France and the UK could cooperate on specific overseas missions outside the structure of the EU.

After the speech, the British foreign secretary invited questions from Reuters and the BBC and a group of French and European students in the audience.

Asked about continuing security and intelligence cooperation between a post-Brexit UK and the EU, Hunt said Britain’s commitment to European security was “unconditional” and would not be used as a “bargaining chip”.

However, he added: “In the end all relationships start with an economic relationship and we do need to ask ourselves whether it would be wise, when there are so many instabilities and challenges in different parts of the world, for countries that are basically friends and share values to put up trade barriers between each other.”

The minister concluded by saying he was confident a deal between the UK and EU would be reached, but refused to give a timeframe except to say it was unlikely to happen within the next week.