MAY TELLS EU: GET ON WITH BREXIT
THERESA May last night warned EU leaders she will walk away from any proposed Brexit deal that she cannot “defend” to the British people.
Over dinner with her European counterparts at a crunch summit in Brussels, the Prime Minister made clear that the patience of UK voters with soaring EU demands for a multibillionpound divorce payment was running out.
And she urged them to make a “joint effort and endeavour” to hammer out a departure deal for Britain
that will deliver “prosperity for all our peoples”.
Mrs May’s stark message follows growing exasperation among Brexitbacking Tory MPs and anti-Brussels campaigners at the EU’s spiralling cash demands.
At their summit today EU leaders are expected to refuse permission for the stuttering Brexit talks to move on to the crucial issue of trade but may allow preliminary “scoping discussions” on a future trade deal to begin.
Several leaders at the summit urged the Prime Minister to provide more “clarity” about how much Britain will pay to leave the EU.
At a working dinner for the 28 EU leaders Mrs May insisted that the UK had taken a “creative and pragmatic approach to securing a new deep and special partnership” with Brussels.
She said her speech in Florence last month setting out Britain’s offer had “taken us forward” in the effort to break the deadlock.
Mrs May said: “I took stock, listened to [what] the people in the UK and my friends and partners in Europe were saying and I made a step forward.
“Both sides were agreed subsequent rounds would be conducted in a new spirit and there’s an increasing sense we must work together to get to an outcome we can stand behind and defend to our people.”
Mrs May told the leaders that when they decide on the new timetable for the negotiations at the summit today “the clear and urgent imperative must be that the dynamic you create enables us to move forward together”.
She also emphasised her desire for a deal that would deliver close co-operation between the EU and the UK.
Earlier the Prime Minister spoke of her wish for “concrete progress” in the Brexit negotiations as she arrived at the summit.
She said: “This council is about taking stock. It is also about looking ahead to how we can tackle the challenges that we all share across Europe.
“That means of course continued cooperation, cooperation which must be at the heart of the strong future partnership that we want to build together. Of course we will also be looking at the concrete progress that has been made in our exit negotiations and setting out ambitious plans for the weeks ahead.
“I particularly want to see an urgency in reaching an agreement on citizens’ rights.”
Soon after the Prime Minister was seen in the summit building deep in conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, the two most influential national leaders in the EU.
Mrs Merkel had appeared to offer the Prime Minister some support in the quest for a deal.
As she arrived at the summit, she signalled that the leaders of the 27 nations staying in the EU may be ready to agree to allow the talks to move on to trade at the next EU Council gathering in Brussels before Christmas. Mrs Merkel said that enough progress had been made to encourage her to think it will be possible to “take the work forward and then reach the start of the second phase in December”.
European Council president Donald Tusk has indicated the EU27 may agree today to begin internal “scoping discussions” on their position on a possible trade deal.
WITH every new piece of information that comes out about negotiations over the Brexit bill it would appear that our EU counterparts are picking a number at random and then they are doubling it.
What else could possibly explain the latest and entirely ludicrous suggestion that the final tally could be £90billion? Michael Fuchs and the rest of the EU cannot be serious. In what alternative universe could such a gargantuan sum be justified?
It is quite clear that what is really going on behind the scenes is an attempt to punish the UK. The EU says it won’t negotiate a trade deal until it has an assurance of a lump sum. In any other situation that would be called blackmail. That is why this country must be prepared to walk away with no deal at all.
At the moment the EU appears to be trying to stall talks with demands that they know we will simply refuse to meet. This is a dangerous game and one that may well blow up in their face.
Already there are calls from the Leave Means Leave group for the Prime Minister to walk away from the talks altogether unless they move on to trade and they are right.
This latest demand is an insult to the intelligence. Enough is enough.