However,  work rules make it much harder for companies to shed employees in Germany and France than in the UK.

A second problem is the likelihood of a financial transaction tax that Germany and France have desired for years. With the UK out of the way, will the EU plow ahead with a tax?

Germany is considering changing its labour laws to make Frankfurt a more attractive hub for banks looking to move staff out of London after Brexit, in the latest attempt by EU countries to woo financial institutions from Britain.

People briefed on the plan said Germany was looking at imposing an upper salary limit on employee protections of €100,000 or €150,000, which would make conditions such as redundancy terms less generous. "Labour law wasn't designed for people like this," one person with knowledge of the situation said.