David Cameron told Europe’s leaders that they will have to offer the UK more control over immigration at the end of a fractious day where politicians across Europe clashed over the meaning and consequences of last week’s Brexit vote.

The British prime minster used his last Brussels summit to tell Angela Merkel, François Hollande and other European heads of government that anxieties about unrestricted freedom of movement were at the heart of the decision by Britons to reject the EU.



Earlier in the day, however, many MEPs had turned their backs on Nigel Farage and jeered as the Ukip leader celebrated the result, although he drew the support of the far-right French deputy Marine Le Pen, who told the European parliament: “Look at how beautiful history is!”

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Speaking after the dinner, a pale and tired-looking Cameron expressed regret that this would be his final European Council, and said he and his fellow leaders had discussed their shared values. “Of course it’s a sad night for me, because I didn’t want to be in this position,” he said.

He said he had explained to his counterparts how prominently the issue of freedom of movement had played during the referendum campaign. “I think people recognised the strength of the economic case for staying; but there was a very strong concern about freedom of movement”.

He added that he believed Britain should try to retain the closest possible relationship with the rest of Europe - but “it is impossible to have all the benefits of EU membership without the costs,” something he said “the next British government” would have to think carefully about.

Merkel said after the dinner: “The discussions reflected the fact that everyone felt this was a sea change, a watershed moment. We have to make clear we respect the outcome ... We will continue to negotiate this relationship on a basis of friendship.”

“We cannot say clearly what this relationship will look like, but we have to say what conclusions we draw as the 27,” she said, adding: “We did not discuss the possibility that the UK will not invoke article 50, and I consider this an impossibility.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest David Cameron and François Hollande during the EU summit meeting. Photograph: Stephane de Sakutin/AFP/Getty Images

Tuesday night’s dinner, of poached veal tenderloin and strawberries, came at the end of a dramatic day in Brussels, as politicians and diplomats tried to weigh the implications of last week’s vote.

Farage was angrily confronted by European commission president Jean-Claude Juncker. “I’m really surprised you are here. You are fighting for the exit. The British people voted in favour of the exit. Why are you here?” Juncker said, in front of a packed session of MEPs in the European parliament.

Farage told parliament that they were “in denial”. He said hardly any of the MEPs had ever done a proper job in their lives, or created one. “We now offer a beacon of hope to democrats across the European continent,” he said. “The UK will not be the last member state to leave the EU.” He added: “You’re not laughing now, are you?”

Angela Merkel and other European leaders, meeting for the first EU summit since last Friday’s result, ruled out any special favours for Britain, insisting there would be no “cherry-picking exercise” in the exit negotiations. In a speech to the Bundestag ahead of the summit on Tuesday, the German chancellor said: “There must be, and there will be, a palpable difference between those countries who want to be members of the European family and those who don’t.”

These words have been echoed by other EU leaders including Italy’s prime minister, Matteo Renzi. Xavier Bettel, prime minister of Luxembourg, added that the UK could not have a Facebook-style “it’s complicated” status with the rest of the EU: Britain could have “marriage or divorce, but not something in between”.

EU leaders also insist there will be no informal talks on a future trade settlement until the UK triggers article 50, which begins the exit process.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest EU leaders with David Cameron fifth from right. Photograph: John Thys/AFP/Getty Images

Juncker also urged Britain’s politicians to open up exit negotiations as soon as possible. “I would like our British friends to tell us what they want so we can get on with it,” he told a packed session of MEPs in the European parliament in Brussels.

He underlined the mood of frustration, hitting back at Britain’s politicians for “blaming Brussels day after day, starting in the morning and finishing in the evening,” and, “telling your people that Brussels is under the command of European bureaucrats and technocrats … you should not be surprised when they believe you”.



EU diplomats reacted with scorn and anger to the idea that the EU had not done enough to help Cameron win the referendum. “The referendum was called by David Cameron, it was decided on his terms, he lost it on his terms. Don’t blame anyone else for your own failures,” said one.



Juncker also criticised the leave campaigner, for not having a plan: “I thought that if you wanted to leave you had a plan, you had a global picture, they don’t have it.” He said that if someone from the leave camp became prime minister they should be obliged to trigger the article 50 divorce procedure the day after their appointment.



Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, said the UK should be given more time before Article 50 is triggered, because “England has collapsed politically, monetarily, constitutionally and economically”. Adding to this theme later in the day he said: to anyone thinking it was “a good idea to leave the single market, this is what happens”.

At his final summit, the prime minister had to take part in long-planned discussions on migration, European security and the single market. Sticking to the timetable is intended to show the EU is still in business, despite the Brexit crisis that has raised fears of the union’s disintegration.



Cameron has repeatedly insisted since announcing his departure last Friday that detailed questions about what deal Britain may want with the rest of the EU are for his successor to answer.

But as he arrived in Brussels, he made clear he hoped to smooth the path for Brexit talks. “I hope the outcome can be as constructive as possible, because of course while we’re leaving the European Union, we mustn’t be turning our backs on Europe.

“These countries are our neighbours, our friends, our allies, our partners and I very much hope we’ll seek the closest possible relationship in terms of trade and cooperation and security, because that is good for us and that is good for them,” he said.

Number 10 sources said Merkel has been understanding about Cameron’s decision not to invoke article 50 – the formal process for withdrawal from the EU – immediately. “I think what you’ve seen from Chancellor Merkel in the days since the referendum is her being one of the voices across Europe recognising the decisions that the prime minister has taken and that there will now be some time, and that was certainly her tone today, and that of other leaders.”

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EU leaders are resigned to the fact Britain will not trigger article 50 immediately, because of the political and constitutional crises engulfing the country. But the pressure is likely to be raised once a new prime minister is in place.

Some EU politicians are hedging their bets on Brexit, or at least taking care with language. An EU diplomat said Brexit would be “an amputation”, adding, “if it materialises”.

Asked what would happen if the UK never triggered article 50, the Lithuanian president, Dalia Grybauskaitė, said: “welcome, welcome back”. Although she also said “mentally and psychologically, Brexit” was already happening.

Some EU diplomats think it was a mistake for European council president Donald Tusk to set up a group known as the Brexit taskforce. They stress the UK has not triggered article 50 divorce proceedings and remains a member of the club.

Cameron had hoped to be travelling to Brussels this week to reassure his fellow leaders that a remain vote in the referendum had settled the issue of Britain’s relationship with the EU for a generation.

Instead, the 27 other member states, who will have to agree what status to offer Britain when formal exit talks begin, will meet on Wednesday to discuss the way forward without him.

Cameron will return to the House of Commons to face prime minister’s questions, as Conservative MPs kick off their leadership campaigns.

Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, promised to convene a special summit of EU leaders in Bratislava in September, in an attempt to chart a course for the 27 remaining member states. The UK will not be invited, underlining its newly diminished status.

Reactions in Brussels to Britain’s vote for Brexit ranged from sadness to alarm, but officials insisted the show would go on. Some junior staff said they cried on hearing the results on Friday morning. Juncker said he was sad because he was not “a robot, a grey bureaucrat or a technocrat”.

Senior EU diplomats are also perplexed about how the prime minister managed to turn what they saw as a very generous deal – negotiated in February – into a catastrophic defeat that has plunged Britain into crisis. EU insiders thought the UK had got an exceptional offer, and were left bitter and disappointed when Cameron didn’t use it in the referendum campaign.