Just four countries and one man want the UK to remain in the EU, MPs told

Just four countries and one man want the UK to remain in the European Union, MPs have been told.

Labour MP Stephen Kinnock told the Brexit select committee that just Poland, Ireland, Hungary and Portugal want the UK to remain - alongside Donald Tusk, president of the European Council.

It comes as the Government and Labour reached the end of another day of talks on how to reach a compromise over a Brexit deal, after it was confirmed yesterday that the UK would be forced to take part in European elections on May 23.

Mr Kinnock said: “Poland, Ireland, Hungary and Portugal and Donald Tusk are actually the only countries that want the UK to stay in the EU.

“All the rest want us out because we have become toxic, a sort of virus in the European body politic and if we were to have a referendum and remain and potentially ending up with a hardline Eurosceptic as prime minister … we would simple be back to where we are now and that would potentially wreck the European project.”

However, some experts said it was not so straight forward but agreed member states were becoming increasingly frustrated after Britain missed its original departure date of March 29 2019.

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Former British official in the European Commission Sir Jonathan Faull said: “This stable, rational pragmatic country seems unrecognisable to many watching us and there is no going back and I think certain things are irrevocable.”

European experts giving evidence to the parliamentary committee said it was not as binary as Kinnock suggested but agreed impatience in the EU was creeping in.

Charles Grant, director for the Centre for European Reform, argued that nobody knows what countries truly think as there has been no formal requirement to make public their position.

Mr Grant claimed French leader Emmanuel Macron was “isolated” in his “tactical” position at the last European council summit when he pushed for a short extension against the majority who backed Angela Merkel view that “if you give them a very long extension, Eurosceptics will think Brexit will never happen and vote” for the withdrawal agreement.

The Spanish backed Merkel’s position but he gathered they were “quite happy to see the UK leave”, Grant told MPs.

Sweden was also conflicted. It wanted the UK to remain but was “so fed up” with British indecision.