Jack White has suggested The Rolling Stones copied The Beatles.

The 46-year-old rocker has praised Sir Mick Jagger and co for being "smart" by "feeding off whatever the hippest thing was" at the time, including "copying" their biggest rivals.

Speaking to MOJO magazine, he said: “People want The Rolling Stones to be cool, dirty, raucous.

"They don’t want to understand that The Rolling Stones were chasing a hit constantly and feeding off whatever the hippest thing was, copying whatever The Beatles did last week. That disrupts the fantasy. And the fantasy’s amazing – I have indulged many times with those kinds of bands. That’s not an insult. That’s them being smart and figuring out a way to keep a train moving.”

The 'Seven Nation Army' hitmaker revealed his favourite Beatle is Sir Paul McCartney and he doesn't believe the Liverpool legends - which were also made up of the late John Lennon and George Harrison and drummer Sir Ringo Starr - would have got anywhere without Macca motivating them.

Asked who his favourite member of the 'Let it Be' group is, he explained: “Absolutely 1,000 per cent Paul McCartney. 'Get Back' proves what I’ve been saying since I was 13 – without Paul, there’s no Beatles.

"Everybody else is out-of-this-world incredible. But you could theoretically take any other Beatle out of that band and still have The Beatles. You want to be on George’s side, for coolness. But it’s easy to be the guy in the room who doesn’t want to do anything. It’s really hard to be the one in the room who’s trying to motivate everybody. They don’t come off as cool. It’s a shame, because those are the people who make things happen. I’m not a fan of people who don’t want to do things. That’s demotivating.”