UK negotiators in combative mood over EU €100bn exit bill

THE EU has “massively over-egged” their demands for a financial settlement for Brexit, British negotiators will tell their opposite numbers next week.

Both sides agree that the UK and EU have financial commitments to each other that will survive Brexit but are divided over what they may be. The EU was reported to be pushing for as much €100 billion (£92.3 billion).

“The Great British Bake Off is on television at the moment,” a source familiar with the talks said. “We will make it clear to them that they have massively over-egged the pudding.”

On Monday, despite the bank holiday, the British team travels to Brussels for the third round of talks in combative

‘The EU wants to do the settlement in salami slices, step by step and up and up. That ain’t going to happen’

mood. In July, the British team interrogated European Commission negotiators “line by line” over its position on the so-called Brexit Bill. Sources said the UK was not convinced by the legal arguments put forward by the EU.

Britain will refuse to give any figure for the financial settlement and will not make any concessions on any point that could allow a sum to be calculated.

It will also resist EU efforts to draw it into agreeing some parts of the bill in a step by step way. The bill is roughly divided into EU Budget, the UK’S money in the European Investment Bank and EU funding programmes.

“The EU wants to do the settlement in salami slices, step by step and up and up. That ain’t going to happen. We are not going to play that game. We are not going to be salami-sliced with an incremental approach,” the source said.

The talks, scheduled for four days, are expected to be highly technical and there is little expectation of any significant breakthrough in this round.