Angela Merkel says she hopes UK stays in EU

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she hopes the UK will stay in the EU, "for the benefit of all of us".

She said it was up to UK voters to decide whether to leave or remain in the EU in the 23 June referendum.

But she said EU states got better results in negotiations than those that had to "negotiate from outside."

Leave campaigner Kate Hoey told the BBC: "It is in Germany's interests for the UK to stay in. That doesn't mean that it is in the UK's interests."

BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg said the intervention was interesting because a few weeks ago German sources were saying privately that Mrs Merkel wasn't minded to say anything about the referendum.

Speaking during a news conference with Nato General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg in Berlin, Mrs Merkel said: "Obviously, it is up to the citizens of the UK themselves how they wish to vote on the upcoming referendum. I've said repeatedly before that I personally would hope and wish for the UK to stay part and parcel of the EU."

She said: "We work well together with the UK particularly when we talk about new rules for the EU.

"We have to develop those together with the UK and whenever we negotiate that, you can much better have an influence on the debate when you sit at the bargaining table and you can give input to those negotiations and the result will then invariably be better rather than being outside of the room."

She stressed the importance of the single market — a free trade area which also includes the free movement of goods, people and capital — and said countries outside the EU "will never get a really good result in negotiations".

"It would be not only be in our interest but it could also be in the interest of Britain when it can bring its whole political weight to the negotiating table as part and parcel of the EU."

'Look outwards'

BBC Berlin correspondent Jenny Hill said it was the first intervention of note by the German chancellor in the referendum campaign although it was widely known she was against a "Brexit".

Jenny Hill added that behind the scenes there was real concern in Berlin that the UK might leave the EU. She added that Mrs Merkel was striking a delicate balance because she would not want to be seen as a German chancellor weighing in and telling Britons how they should vote.

Labour MP and Leave campaigner Kate Hoey told the BBC Mrs Merkel would be "well advised to stay out of what is a very, very important vote for British democracy".

"I really don't think that Angela Merkel telling the British people how they should vote in a democratic referendum in three weeks time will affect anyone's vote," she said.

"We can do extremely well outside the European Union — we don't need to be in the single market, other countries trade with the European Union and are not in the single market. We are the fifth largest economy, we can look outwards."