UK admits she will pay up to $52-billion Brexit bill before agreeing trade deal

LONDON (AFP) – The British government acknowledged it must pay its Brexit divorce bill before securing a new trade deal with the EU, despite previously insisting the cash could be a bargaining chip.

Prime Minister Theresa May agreed in December to a financial settlement totalling £35 to £39 billion ($46.6 to $52.0 billion, 39.8 to 44.4 billion euros) that her ministers said depended on agreeing future trade ties.

But under repeated questioning by a committee of MPs, Brexit minister Suella Braverman – a leading eurosceptic in May's Conservative party – was forced to concede this may not be the case.

The Houses of Parliament will vote later this year on the final withdrawal deal struck with Brussels, ahead of Britain's exit from the EU in March 2019.

The deal will include the financial settlement as part of a legally binding withdrawal agreement, plans for a post-Brexit transition period and a political agreement on the framework of the future economic and security partnership.

''Technically, the legal text of the future framework will not be before parliament in October when we have this meaningful vote,'' Braverman said.

''However the political declaration will be detailed, it will be instructive.''

She noted that in the legal text of the withdrawal agreement there would be a clause urging ''good faith'' on both sides.