10 Downing dismisses reports of Brexit bill

‘We do not recognise reported 40bn euro EU exit bill’

London, Aug. 7: Britain does not recognise media reports that the government is willing to pay 40 billion euros ($47.21 bn) to exit the European Union, Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman said on Monday.

The so-called "exit bill" is one of the first issues on the Brexit negotiating agenda, and also one of the most contentious.The

EU has floated a figure of 60 billion euros, while Britain has not indicated how much it would be prepared to pay.

The Sunday Telegraph reported that Britain would be willing to pay up to 40 billion euros, citing three unnamed sources familiar with Britain's negotiating strategy.

“In terms of this figure, I don't recognise it," May's spokesman told reporters. "The prime minister made clear in the letter triggering Article 50 (the EU exit process) that the UK and the EU need todiscuss a fair settlement of both our rights and obligations

In terms of this figure, I do not recognise it. I am not getting into a running commentary on the negotiations or the precise structure of them

Robbie Gibb, Theresa May’s spokesman

asan EU member state.”

Britain has less than two years to negotiate the terms of its exit from the EU — an unprecedented untangling of more than 40 years of legal, economic and political ties. Early rounds of talks have made

little progress, with the EU's negotiating teamdemanding more clarity from Britain on what it wants.

When asked whether Britain and the EU were expecting to come up with a firm figure for the bill at

this stage in thetalks, or a less precise agreement covering the rules whichwould be used to calculate it, the spokesman said: “I'm not getting into a running commentary on the negotiations or the precise structure.”