MAY TO DEMAND MONEY BACK FROM EU
THERESA May has told the EU that Britain wants its money back as she prepares to get tough with Brussels.
The Prime Minister’s robust challenge comes after months of increasingly large demands from senior figures in the European Union suggesting a ludicrous £85billion bill.
At the weekend Mrs May said that “money paid in the past” by Britain must be taken into account in the final divorce bill.
She insisted that Britain has “rights” as well as “obligations” to the EU, despite claims by the European Commission.
She said: “There is much debate about what the UK’s obligations might be or indeed what our rights be in terms of money being paid in the past. We would look at those, both rights and obligations.”
It is understood that the Government believes Britain is owed at least £10billion from what it has sunk into the European Investment Bank.
There are also billions owed in other assets such as buildings and the Commission’s wine collection.
In another sign that the Government is not in a mood to be pushed around by Eurocrats, Brexit Secretary David Davis has warned that if Brussels insists on Britain paying a bill the Government will walk away.
Mr Davis was responding to claims by EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier that talks cannot proceed unless Britain acquiesces to a huge exit bill.
Britain’s annual trade deficit with the EU stands at around £60billion.
It would therefore be harmed far more than the UK if no deal was reached. Leave Means Leave campaign co-chairman Richard Tice welcomed the strong language from Mrs May.
He said last night: “This is the robust position Britain must take. No deal is better than a bad deal and the Prime Minister has made it clear that Britain will walk away.
“The ball is now in the EU’s court. The sooner everyone knows where they stand the better.”
In a speech in North Wales today, the Prime Minister was expected to refocus the Election back on Brexit saying she is “100 per cent committed to the cause” and that there will be “no time to waste” with Brexit talks set for just 11 days after the Election.
She will also suggest Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is “uncertain or unsure” when it comes to delivering on Brexit.
She was expected to bemoan the “hysterical warnings” from Labour, Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats in Wales during last year’s EU referendum despite her support for the Government’s Remain campaign.
Mrs May will visit North Wales to launch the “Welsh Conservative manifesto” after her ministerial team was forced on the defensive over plans to overhaul social care funding. Mrs May was expected to say: “There are just 17 days to go until this crucial General Election. Just 11 days after that, the European Union wants the Brexit negotiations to begin.
“The UK’s seat at the negotiating table will be filled by me or Jeremy Corbyn. The deal we seek will be negotiated by me or Jeremy Corbyn.
“There will be no time to waste and no time for a new government to find its way. So the stakes in this election are high.”
The UK would have a “weak hand” should Mr Corbyn secure power with
the help of the Lib Dems, Plaid Cymru and the SNP as these parties “don’t want Brexit to succeed”.
Mrs May is expected to say the UK’s future prosperity depends on “getting the next five years right”, adding: “That is why we need someone representing Britain who is 100 per cent committed to the cause. Not someone who is uncertain or unsure but someone utterly determined to deliver the democratic will of the British people.
“Because if we don’t get this right, the consequences for the United Kingdom and for the economic security of ordinary working people will be dire.
“If we do, the opportunities ahead are great.”
In a separate attack over the weekend Mr Davis warned that Eurocrats “have axes to grind”.
He said: “We don’t just need to look like we can walk away. Under the circumstances, if that was necessary, we would be in a position to do it.”
The two people in charge of Britain’s Brexit negotiations, should the Tories win on June 8, have noticeably ratcheted up their language since European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and others went on the offensive.
A briefing from Mr Juncker’s office on a dinner at Downing Street led to Mrs May warning that senior Brussels figures want the talks to fail and are “interfering” in the election.
Now Mrs May has made it clear she is not in a mood to compromise and underlined her belief that “no deal is better than a bad deal”.
In a separate initiative, Mrs May has vowed to consider how to remove honours from public figures in a review of those “who fail to meet standards of integrity”. The comment comes after widespread criticism of business tycoon Sir Philip Green and banker Fred Goodwin.
BREXIT Secretary David Davis is a tough cookie you wouldn’t want to mess with. So Brussels and Berlin had better listen when he declares: “Never play poker against Theresa May…she takes her time and works out all the options.”
Which is why he can say with clear authority that if Brussels insists on playing its outrageous game of demanding 100 billion euros from us before talking about a trade deal then Britain will just walk away. With not so much as a backward glance.
As a vicar’s daughter it’s unlikely Mrs May has ever played poker. But she obviously knows a bluff when she sees one. And that’s all that the Eurocrats can muster between them.
Davis recognises that Europe has an axe to grind and like the PM he’s determined not to give in to threats and bullying. As he rightly says, never mind about 100 billion euros: “Even one billion is a lot of money.”
Mrs May went one step further yesterday. Far from paying the EU money when we leave, she says she will be asking for a refund. Now that’s the kind of talk the country likes to hear!
With every passing day it becomes more and more clear that if you want Brexit to mean Brexit there’s only one solution: a vote for Theresa May and the Conservatives on June 8.