British Prime Minister Theresa May congratulated France's incoming President Emmanuel Macron but euroskeptics reacted angrily Monday to his election victory, saying it was bad news for the Brexit talks.

Brexit firebrand Nigel Farage said Macron would be European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker's "puppet" while the Leave.

Analysts said that while Macron is likely to be tough on Britain's divorce settlement, a victory for Marine Le Pen would have been a worse outcome as it would have meant negotiating with a European Union in disarray.

Relations between May and EU leaders have become increasingly rancorous in the run-up to Britain's general election next month, with the prime minister accusing Brussels of making "threats" against the country over the highly complex divorce proceedings.

Macron's chief economic adviser Jean Pisani-Ferry told BBC radio that the new French leader would be "tough" with Britain but would not set out to punish it and would seek to avoid a "hard Brexit".

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