Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Boris’s £50bn flip-flop
He admits we’ll pay Brexit bill
The sums they demand seem extortionate and I think ‘to go whistle’ is an appropriate expression - BORIS JOHNSON JULY 11
The sums that I’ve seen seemed to be very high and, of course, we will meet our obligations - BORIS JOHNSON YESTERDAY
BORIS Johnson has backed down over his claim that Brussels could “go whistle” for its Brexit bill.
The Foreign Secretary admitted the Government would have to “meet our obligations” though he would not name a figure, which could be up to £50billion.
Speaking during a landmark visit to Libya, he accepted the UK would have to make a financial agreement to the EU as part of exit plans.
He told the BBC: “Some of the sums that I’ve seen seemed very high and, of course, we will meet our obligations. We are lawabiding, bill-paying people.
“The UK has contributed hundreds of billions over the years.”
It was a change from his insistence to MPS last month that it was “entirely appropriate” to tell EU chiefs to “go whistle” on their “extortionate” demands.
He said yesterday he would “not haggle” over the figure to be paid, adding: “We should pay not a penny more, not a penny less of what we think our legal obligations amount to.”
Talks between Brexit Secretary David Davis and the EU’S Michel Barnier resume next week. Mr Barnier has said Britain’s outstanding contributions and the rights of EU nationals must be agreed before negotiations on a new trading relationship begin. It came as a report revealed Brexit could create up to 87,000 jobs in Frankfurt as banks and financial firms quit London for Germany’s financial capital. Lib Dem Brexit spokesman Tom Brake MP said of the report from Frankfurt Main Finance: “Boris was right that Brexit will create thousands of jobs – but they’ll be in Germany, not the UK.” Mr Johnson also refused to back Theresa May on her decision to include students in net migration figures.