Door is still open for Britain to remain in the EU, Macron tells May

French President Emmanuel Macron and Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May attend a friendly football match between France and England at the Stade de France in Saint Denis. Photo / AP

By David Chazan

The door is still open for Britain to remain in the European Union, Emmanuel Macron has said after talks with Theresa May in Paris.

At a joint press conference with the French President, the British Prime Minister did not clarify if she was softening her position on Brexit.

She said the timetable for negotiations "remains on course and will begin next week," the Daily Telegraph reports.

May said that following the election there is "a unity of purpose in the UK that the Government gets on and delivers it. We want a deep and special partnership with a strong EU, in trade but also on defence and security. With willingness and intent on both sides we can get a deal in the interest of the UK and the EU 27."

Macron said: "From a European point of view, as long as the negotiations are not over, there is still a possibility to change the course of events.

But he added: "As the negotiations go on it will be more and more difficult to go backwards."

May rejected criticism by former Prime Minister John Major that she was endangering peace in Northern Ireland by negotiating an agreement with the DUP.

"We remain steadfast in our commitment to the Belfast agreement," she said. "A discussion taking place on the Northern Ireland executive and our focus is absolute. In talks with DUP we want to ensure with their support we give stability which is important ahead of the Brexit negotiations. Our intent is to have stability in the national interest. We have worked with the DUP before."

She added: "What we're doing in relation to the talks that we're holding, the productive talks we're holding with the Democratic Unionist Party, is ensuring that it is possible to, with their support, give the stability to the UK Government that I think is necessary at this time."

After a working dinner of duck liver pate with truffles, monkfish and cake with red fruits, May and Macron went to the Stade de France to watch the England-France friendly football match.

At half time they laid a wreath in honour of the victims of the London Bridge attack, in which three French nationals were killed.

Fans sang God Save the Queen before the match as a tribute to those killed in the London Bridge and Manchester terrorist attacks.

English and French players stand together during a minute of silence for the victims of the recent attacks in Manchester and London before a football match at the Stade de France. Photo / AP

The English Football Association paid a similar tribute to France at a friendly match at Wembley just days after terrorist attacks killed 130 people in Paris in November 2015.

As the players came on to the pitch, fans joined in singing the Oasis song Don't Look Back In Anger, played by the Republican Guard band. The song has become a tribute anthem for the Manchester victims because of the band's links with the city.

May and Macron held talks on counter-terrorism and said they had agreed on what the French President called "a very concrete plan of action" including moves to make social media to curb terrorist propaganda on social networks.

May said: "The UK and France will work together to encourage corporations to do more and abide by their social responsibility to step up their efforts to remove harmful content from their networks. We are launching a joint UK-French campaign to ensure that the internet cannot be used as a safe space for terrorists and criminals."

Macron also said a defence summit would be held in the UK before the end of the year.

May said: "Nowhere is our cooperation closer than in the area of defence and security, with British and French fighter pilots flying alongside one another and in each other's planes over Syria and Iraq to strike Daesh [Isil] at its heart, or our troops deployed together in Estonia to provide reassurance to our eastern allies in the face of Russian aggression."