France could end UK border controls in Calais, and allow migrants to cross the Channel unchecked, if the UK leaves the EU, France’s Finance Minister has said.
Emmanuel Macron told the ‘Financial Times’ his country could also limit access to the single market and try to tempt London’s bankers to relocate.
His comments come as David Cameron and Francois Hollande prepare for security and migration talks in France.
Pro-exit London Mayor Boris Johnson urged voters to “ignore scaremongers”.
British voters will be asked whether the UK should remain in the European Union or leave, in a referendum on Thursday, June 23.
Macron told the ‘FT’ that if the vote was in favour of a so-called Brexit, it could bring to an end the agreement between the two countries that allows the UK to conduct border controls on the French side of the Channel, reports the BBC.
There are currently believed to be about 4,000 migrants amassed in Calais, hoping to cross to the UK.
“The day this relationship unravels, migrants will no longer be in Calais,” Macron told the newspaper, adding that France would also roll out a “red carpet” to London’s bankers if the UK voted to leave the EU.
The migration crisis is among topics expected to be discussed when Prime Minister Cameron and President Hollande meet in Amiens, northern France, later. Cameron has also previously claimed migrant camps could move to England if the UK left the EU – although his comments were dismissed as “scaremongering” by those campaigning for an EU exit, including his former Defence Secretary Liam Fox.
