The intervention comes after Wes Streeting, the Labour leadership-challenger hopeful, said he would fight the next election on a mandate to rejoin the EU.

Despite Juncker’s view that other member states would use their veto to block a UK return to the EU, some leaders have indicated they would welcome Britain back.

Spain’s Pedro Sánchez and Poland’s Donald Tusk – who was European Council president during the Brexit negotiations – have said they would welcome such a move.

Berlin also wants the closest possible relationship between the UK and the EU.

Juncker was in office at the time of the Brexit referendum and for most of the years of painful negotiations that followed.

The former prime minister of Luxembourg was one of the EU chiefs blamed by Brexiteers for Brussels’ unyielding stance in the talks with UK prime ministers Theresa May and Boris Johnson.

In May, The Telegraph reported that the EU would insist the UK give up the rebate it had if it asked to join the bloc.

The rebate was won by Margaret Thatcher at an EU summit in Fontainebleau, France, in 1984 after she had declared: “I want my money back.”

Juncker said: “If Britain would start by saying, ‘We want our money back’, we would say, ‘There is no money there’.”

The former EU chief also took a swipe at PM hopeful Nigel Farage, who was often his sparring partner in European Parliament debates when the Reform UK leader was a member of the European Parliament.

Juncker said: “I will remember him as a tough guy, a good debater and as a liar.”

Juncker said he had warned the then-prime minister, David Cameron, not to hold the referendum and that he knew would lead to the UK leaving the union.

He said: “The British never felt at ease in the European Union. [Previous governments] were explaining to the British public that Britain was there for economic reasons.”

He said the failure of Brexit essentially ensured that no other member states contemplated leaving. He said: “Given the marvellous result of Brexit, I don’t think that anyone is inspired by this move.

“What happened since [Brexit] in Britain was foreseeable because all the lies which were told during the campaign are revealing themselves as having been lies, and nothing of the expected advantages from the exit of Britain has happened.”

Juncker’s comments come a decade after Britain voted to leave in the 2016 referendum.

Since coming to power, Sir Keir Starmer has sought to forge closer ties with the EU as Labour hunts for economic growth.

Negotiations are ongoing on a “Reset” deal with Brussels, which the UK and EU want to conclude in time for a summit in the Belgian capital next month.

The deal includes Britain aligning with EU rules on plant and animal health to boost trade and a new youth mobility deal.

But a final agreement has proved elusive, leading to fears the summit deadline will be missed.

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