Brexit: EU says no compromise on freedom of movement

European Union leaders have warned that the UK must honour the principle of free movement of people if it wants to retain access to the single market after it leaves the bloc.

European Council President Donald Tusk said the UK could not pick and choose.

The French and German leaders also made clear that the freedom of movement of EU citizens was non-negotiable.

Immigration to the UK, particularly from poorer EU countries, was a key issue in the referendum campaign.

Some campaigners for Leave sent a clear message that the vote was about controlling immigration levels.

Outgoing UK Prime Minister David Cameron said that the issue of freedom of movement would be for the next PM and government to decide.

"I'm in no doubt that this is the difficult issue," he told MPs in Westminster.

"Frankly, it's a difficult issue inside the EU, where you've got all the negotiating ability to try and change things, and I think it will be in many ways even more difficult from outside."

However EU leaders appear united after Wednesday's meeting that there will be no "nuances", as Mr Juncker put it, for the UK.

The leaders of the 27 member states, excluding Britain, said in a statement that they hope to have the UK as a close partner of the EU in future "and we look forward to the UK stating its intentions in this respect.

"Any agreement, which will be concluded with the UK as a third country, will have to be based on a balance of rights and obligations. Access to the single market requires acceptance of all four freedoms."

The "four freedoms" that underlie the EU's internal market are the freedom of movement of goods, workers, services and capital.