EU leaders stay firm on freedom of movement post Brexit

Britain will have to accept freedom of movement of immigrants if it wants to retain access to the European Union's single market after leaving the 28 member bloc, EU leaders warned on Wednesday.

At the end of a two day summit to discuss the fallout from the Brexit vote last week, UK Prime Minister David Cameron was told firmly that there could be no "a la carte" selection of trade deals.

Cameron had warned EU leaders on Tuesday that they must address the issue of immigration, adding it had been the key issue in the British vote to leave.

Cameron said that he wanted to see a post-Brexit deal struck that would allow for a close economic relationship, but said any such arrangement would have to acknowledge British concerns about migrants.

Cameron resigned as prime minister on Friday as results showed 52% of voters chose to leave the EU but did not start the formal process of exiting under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. He said there had been no immediate pressure to invoke the clause from other leaders.

However, on Wednesday the remaining 27 EU leaders all had agreed that Britain would have to accept freedom of movement if it wanted to maintain access to the single market as a non-member.

"We reconfirmed that Britain's withdrawal from the European Union must be orderly and there will be no negotiations of any kind until the UK formally notifies its intention to withdraw," said European Council President Donald Tusk.

"It is up to the British government to notify the European Council of the UK intentions to withdraw from the EU. Leaders made it crystal clear today that access to the single market requires acceptance of all four freedoms, including the freedom of movement. There will be no single market 'à la carte'," Tusk added.

German Chancellor Anglea Merkel said there could be no “cherry picking” of single market rules that guarantee freedom of movement of goods, services, capital and workers in a view that was endorsed by France and Italy.

The leaders also agreed to meet again in Bratislava on 16 September to discuss progress on the issue.

Cameron's Conservative Party on Wednesday fired the starting gun on the race to replace Cameron by October at the latest.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said if a member of the 'Remain' campaign was to take over as prime minister he would expect Article 50 to be invoked within two weeks, but if a member of 'Leave' emerged, widely expected to be Boris Johnson, this should happen “within 24 hours”.

He rejected Cameron's assertion that immigration was the sole reason for Brexit.

“My impression is that if you, over years if not decades, tell citizens that something is wrong with the EU, that the EU is too technocratic, too bureaucratic, you cannot be taken by surprise if voters believe you,” he said.

There had been talk of the possibility of a second referendum, but this was dismissed by Merkel who said it was not the time for “wishful thinking”.

"I want to say very clearly tonight that I see no way to reverse this," Merkel said when asked about the possibility of a British U-turn on Brexit.

Sturgeon meets EU chiefs

In separate developments, Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was in Brussels on Wednesday to hold talks with Juncker in an attempt to keep Scotland in the EU.

She was also scheduled to meet European parliament president, Martin Schulz, and Guy Verhofstadt, the former Belgian prime minister and leader of the Liberal group at the European parliament. European Council President Donald Tusk declined her offer of talks, the Scotsman newspaper reported.

Scotland voted overwhelmingly to stay in the EU, prompting Sturgeon to say that a second referendum on Scottish independence was “highly likely”.

However, Sturgeon faces stiff opposition to EU entry from Spain, with acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy rejecting any moves in that direction by Scotland.

“If the United Kingdom leaves [the EU], so does Scotland,” he told a news conference in Brussels.

“Scotland has no competences to negotiate with the EU. The Spanish government rejects any negotiation with anyone other than the United Kingdom.”