Macron lays out vision of new Europe with France and Britain at its centre

European countries need to reduce their "dual dependencies" on the US and China, Emmanuel Macron has warned, as he sketched out his vision of an empowered "wider Europe" on the first day of a historic state visit.

- Kiran Stacey

The French president addressed several hundred MPs and guests at the start of a three-day trip - the first state visit of a European leader to the UK since Brexit.

He painted a picture of a new Europe, beyond the boundaries of the 27-member bloc, with France and Britain at its core. He only briefly referenced his disappointment at Britain's exit from the EU.

Macron lavished praise on his British hosts and promised the two countries would cooperate more closely than ever on migration. Keir Starmer is pushing for a "one in, one out" deal that would mean some asylum seekers are returned to France.

Macron called again for a youth mobility scheme, to widespread applause in the hall.

"We will have to de-risk our two countries from the excessive dependencies on both the US and China," he said. "If we still depend on both China and the US, I think we have a clear view of our future and the future of our children.

"On one side [China], other capacities and other subsidies are clear threats [to] fair trade, and they are destabilising a lot of value chain and creating new dependencies.

"On the other side [the US], the trade war is clearly an explicit decision not to be compliant any more with WTO and this commerce we loved until now.

"If we want to build a sustainable future for all children [we have] to de-risk our economies and our societies from these dual dependencies."