‘We won’t double EU divorce payout’
DAVID Davis yesterday rejected demands from Brussels for Britain to pay double what the Government has offered as an EU exit bill.
The Brexit Secretary confirmed that the Government was planning to hand Brussels “roughly” £10billion a year during the expected two-year transition period after the departure in 2019.
Over the weekend, Brussels sources suggested the offer was inadequate and indicated that twice as much – around £40billion for the whole period – should be paid.
They claimed the £10billion a year only covered existing EU commitments and failed to include cash allegedly owed by the UK for pensions for EU officials and other liabilities.
Ridiculous
But speaking on the BBC One Andrew Marr Show, the Tory Cabinet minister said: “I’m not going to do an actual number on air, but we have a fairly clear idea where we’re going on this.” He confirmed the £10billion payment offer, which had been indicated although not spelled out in Theresa May’s keynote speech in Florence as she sought to break the deadlock in the Brexit talks.
“Things like pensions and other things, these are debatable to say the least,” Mr Davis said.
“The last time we went through line by line and challenged quite a lot of the legal basis of these things and we’ll continue to do that.
“That doesn’t mean that we want to see our allies and friends in Europe massively disadvantaged.”
Mr Davis also vowed yesterday that the “over-arching supremacy” of the European Court of Justice over British law will end in 2019.