The French eurocrat told an audience in Zagreb, Croatia, that Mr Farage wants to destroy the EU and failed to reveal the consequences of Brexit for the Irish border. Mr Barnier told the so-called “citizens dialogue” session that Brussels had ensured the complicated Irish border issue had been a part of Brexit negotiations from the very beginning. The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator said: “Certain people like Mr Farage did not tell the truth in the referendum campaign.”

He added: “It is almost a banality but when one makes an electoral campaign, one must tell people the truth and that was not the case for certain people during the referendum.

“They did not evoke the consequences of Brexit before the citizens. They practically did not speak about Ireland at the moment of the referendum.”

The so-called Irish backstop, which was designed to prevent a hard border in the event of a no-deal Brexit, has been at the heart of MPs’ rejection for Theresa May’s divorce deal in Westminster.

Opponents to the Prime Minister’s deal have claimed that Brussels could use the backstop to trap Britain in a permanent customs union by refusing to negotiate a future trading relationship.

Mr Barnier revealed that he is “worried” about the prospect of a hard border disrupting the peace and stability, and potentially reigniting the Troubles, on the island of Ireland.

He said: “Now we must deal with that problem. I am worried, yes. I am very worried.”

Yesterday, David Lidington, the de facto deputy prime minister, confirmed that Britain would have to take part in this month’s European elections.

Mr Farage’s Brexit Party are currently looking set to win the most MEPs as Mrs May’s Conservatives pay the price for her failure to deliver Brexit by March 29, according to the latest polls.

Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission’s president, on Tuesday claimed his failure to “intervene” in Britain’s EU referendum campaign is one of his biggest regrets since becoming the EU’s most senior official.

The top eurocrat blamed then-prime minister David Cameron for blocking his ability to “destroy the lies” circulated by Brexiteers.

Mr Juncker said: “Cameron, the then-prime minister, asked me not to interfere or intervene in the referendum campaign.

“It was a mistake not to intervene and not to interfere because we would have been the only one to destroy the lies that were circulated around.

“I was wrong to be silent at an important moment.”

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