EU is stalling to get more cash out of us, warns Davis

BORIS Johnson branded Labour ‘supine protoplasmic invertebrate jellies’ yesterday over their lack of resolve over Brexit. It’s not the first time the Foreign Secretary has used the bizarre insult – in 2013, while mayor, he called London Assembly members the same thing.

BRUSSELS is stalling on Brexit talks in a cynical bid to chisel more money out of the UK, David Davis warned yesterday.

The Brexit Secretary told MPs that a deal was close on securing the rights of 3.2million EU citizens in the UK and 1.2million Britons living in Europe.

But he said that Brussels was refusing to discuss trade relations in an attempt to secure a ‘divorce payment’ of up to £90billion.

He said: ‘The simple truth is that we are in a negotiation and they are using time pressure to see whether they can get more money out of us – that is what is going on, as is obvious to anybody.

‘That will take some time, but I am sure we will get there in time to get a decent outcome for everybody.’

Downing Street yesterday confirmed it would not set out the total it was willing to pay until talks with the EU on trade had concluded.

Mr Davis, who has held five rounds of talks with EU counterpart Michel Barnier, said that the two sides were ‘reaching the limits of what we can achieve without considering our future relationship’.

The growing acrimony comes ahead of a crunch summit in Brussels tomorrow.

But Mr Barnier denied he was stringing out talks, saying the claim was ‘ a bit odd’ from a government that had held a snap election after triggering Article 50.

He said: ‘ We are ready and willing to even speed up the negotiation. We don’t have any intention of holding up any process whatsoever.’

Last month Theresa May offered to hand over £20billion – but the EU is holding out for as much as 100billion euros (£90billion).

A key ally of Angela Merkel appeared to confirm money was the main sticking point.

Michael Fuchs, deputy chairman of the German Chancellor’s political group, said Mrs May’s offer was ‘not enough’.

And he blamed the Foreign Secretary for blocking a more generous offer.

Mr Fuchs said: ‘I know there are internal problems – whatever she is offering, Boris Johnson is saying it’s too much.

‘I don’t know what his influence is – it seems to be pretty strong because otherwise she would come up with other proposals I guess and the problem is she has internal trouble in the Tories.’

Mr Johnson had previously suggested those demanding Britain pays a big divorce bill could ‘go whistle’. In the Commons yesterday he said it was time for the EU to ‘get serious’. Downing Street said Mrs May shared Mr Davis’s view that Brussels was stringing out talks to extract more money.

Sources said the Prime Minister would not make a new offer to EU leaders over dinner in Brussels tomorrow night.

EU officials confirmed Britain’s refusal to commit to paying off a share of the bloc’s liabilities was the ‘most difficult’ issue preventing progress.

Finnish deputy minister Samuli Virtanen said it was difficult to understand what Britain wanted from negotiations, while Danish foreign minister Anders Samuelsen said EU leaders were waiting for ‘more precise definitions’ from the UK.

But Belgian deputy prime minister Didier Reynders acknowledged that the EU’s hard-line approach – driven by Mrs Merkel and French president Emmanuel Macron – had posed difficulties.

Meanwhile, a letter signed by 18 Tory MPs accused Jeremy Corbyn of ‘ betraying the national interest’ over Brexit. Labour has pledged to vote down any deal that does not maintain the same benefits for the UK as EU membership.

The EU’s financial stability could be threatened if Britain leaves the EU without a deal, the Bank of England Governor said yesterday.

He told the Treasury select committee that the EU would be ‘short of financial services’ because it would lose access to the City of London, and EUbased banks had done less than their UK counterparts to prepare for Britain leaving with no deal. Mr Carney – previously criticised for his negative attitude to Brexit – also admitted the potential trade deals could lead to a ‘jump forward’.