Barnier hints EU parliaments will block Brexit trade deal if UK plans too much divergence - Politics live

Michel Barnier says it is odd to be talking about Brexit at a Centre or European Reform conference about the future of the EU. But he goes on

"Brexit could prove to be a turning point in the European project.

The year 2016 could be seen as a moment of reckoning. It could be the point where the EU realises “no one will do for us what we don’t do for ourselves.”

Barnier shows a slide which he says David Cameron used to use to justify his faith in the single market.

It shows that by 2050 there will be no European countries amongst the world’s eight biggest economies.

But if the EU sticks together, it will be a top five economy, he says.