PM ‘must link divorce bill to free-trade deal’

THE Prime Minister is facing demands from her Cabinet to tie the £39billion Brexit divorce bill to an EU free-trade deal.

Eurosceptic ministers want the UK to be able to delay or even cancel future payments if there is no agreement on trade.

One told the Mail: ‘What we want is to make sure we are not on the hook for all these payments in the event of not reaching a deal, because we will never be able to claim it back. Ideally the first tranche of payments wouldn’t start until after the trade agreement was signed.’ Downing Street hopes to complete negotiations on a withdrawal agreement within weeks. It will be accompanied by a text outlining the likely shape of a future deal, with details to be agreed after March 2019.

A vote on the withdrawal agreement will sign the UK up to a schedule showing when payments are due.

The EU rejects any link between trade and the money, and will insist the cash must be paid regardless of what happens. But ministers want Theresa May to insert clauses into the treaty making the money ‘conditional’ on a deal being done.