Emmanuel Macron’s plans to invite Britain to join a political alliance outside of the European Union has sparked fury from Conservative MPs.
Mr Macron said he was in favour of a new type of "political European community" that would allow countries outside of the European Union to join "European core values".
The French President also reiterated at an EU event in the French city of Strasbourg that any steps to allow Ukraine to join the EU would require "in reality several years, and without doubt several decades".
Mr Macron plans to invite Britain to join a political alliance outside of the European Union
Alastair Grant
But the calls have been met with backlash by many in the UK.
Former Brexit Minister David Jones said the plans would be “received very badly in the UK".
He added: “People didn’t vote to leave only to be stuck in the orbit of a sclerotic European Union."
Mr Jones continued in conversation with MailOnline: “We are a nation with a global outlook, not a satellite of Brussels."
While Tory MP Andrew Bridgen added: “We are already members of another organisation that has guaranteed the security of European democracy for the last 70 years.
“It’s called NATO and we are a major participant in it. France at times, not so much.”
Chair of the European Research Group, Mark Francois said: “The British people have not spent years wrenching themselves free of the overbearing EU, only to rejoin it, at the behest of President Macron.
“His recent pandering to Vladimir Putin may also explain why the countries of Eastern Europe don’t favour his plans for an aggrandised EU either.”
During his speech, Mr Macron said: "This new European organisation would allow democratic European nations adhering to our core values to find a new space for political cooperation, and security.
"Joining it would not prejudge future membership of the European Union, and it would not be closed to those who have left the latter."
French President Emmanuel Macron
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