France's Macron vows during UK visit to learn from Cameron's Brexit mistakes

French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron has vowed his campaign will learn from the mistakes of David Cameron’s Brexit and Hillary Clinton’s failed election campaign by being boldly pro-liberal and pro-Europe, telling British Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday not to expect any favours from the European Union during Brexit talks.

Macron visited May at her Downing Street office and later met Britain's chancellor Philip Hammond, a public relations coup for the young ex-banker at a time when his campaign appears to be losing momentum.

Speaking after his meeting with May, centrist Macron defended his decision to be unambiguous in his views as he fights a campaign against the far-right’s Marine Le Pen, saying: “In the current environment, if you are shy, you are dead.”

 “In the current environment, when extremes and anti-globalisation win elections, that is probably the best moment for France to decide to do the opposite,” he added.

Macron, 39, a former economy minister in Socialist President Francois Hollande's government, is running as an independent. He is due to unveil his detailed programme next week.

The candidate, who describes his platform for the spring elections as “neither left nor right”, said Britain should not be able to access the European single market unless it respected the four freedoms, including free movement of labour within the EU. He added there could be no access to the market or financial passporting for the City of London without financial contributions to the EU.

"Brexit cannot lead to a kind of optimisation of Britain's relationship with the rest of Europe. An exit is an exit," he told reporters outside 10 Downing Street.

Macron risked irritating his hosts by reiterating his warning that the Touquet agreement covering Anglo-French cooperation over migrants at Calais would have to be rethought.

“As for security and immigration, I have been extremely consistent that post-Brexit Le Touquet, if it is not part of the EU package, is something that we will have to reconsider in a very pragmatic way. That is not to say we have to kill the agreement but to consider the fact today it is not a fair relationship and we have to deal with a lot of people on our side waiting for acceptance,” he said.

The latest polls suggest he and right-wing rival Francois Fillon are tied behind far-right leader Marine Le Pen ahead of the first round of the election on 23 April. Polls also suggest either man would easily beat Le Pen in the 7 May run-off.