Political leaders and campaigners calling for Britain to reverse the results of the EU referendum should "stop harking on" about what amounts to an "illusion", Philip Hammond has said.

The Chancellor accused European leaders of making "only backward-looking" statements such as, "are you sure you want to leave?"

He also described EU fears that a generous deal for the UK could encourage other countries to leave the trading bloc, as "paranoia" - saying Brussels should do more to keep existing members rather than "threatening members who decide to leave".

Mr Hammond's comments, during a visit to Berlin, follow persistent calls by some political figures for the UK to hold a second referendum on leaving the EU.

But in an interview with the Welt am Sonntag newspaper, Mr Hammond was critical of European leaders remaining focused on whether Britain could yet stay in the EU. Instead they should be looking to the "future", he said.

"We hear a willingness and enthusiasm in the USA and from many other countries around the world to make new trade deals with us. But we don’t hear that from Europe," he said.

"We hear from Europe only backward-looking stuff. 'Are you sure you want to leave?' Or 'It’s a bad decision to leave.' Or 'You must be punished for deciding to leave.' Well, we are leaving and we want to retain the closest possible partnership with the European Union. But we can only have that if the European Union also wants it. "