UK will refuse to discuss Brexit bill as stalemate set to continue
BRITAIN will refuse to tell Europe how much it is prepared to pay to settle the so-called “Brexit bill” when negotiations re-open in Brussels next week,
The Daily Telegraph can reveal, in a move that risks plunging the Brexit talks into fresh crisis.
The British move comes as doubts emerged across Europe that Theresa May has the political clout to seal a Brexit deal following her disastrous party conference speech and public disagreements with Boris Johnson.
Senior Whitehall sources said that negotiators will refuse to say which financial “commitments” Britain will honour, setting up a fresh showdown with Brussels. The UK stance was taken after it became clear EU negotiators would not open talks on a transitional deal and trade talks at this month’s European Council summit, despite Mrs May’s recent offer to pay €20bn during a transition deal.
“There won’t be any political movement from the British side on the bill until the EU broadens its package to discuss transition and the future relationship,” said a high-placed Whitehall source, adding that the UK would seek to hold “technical talks” on the bill. The renewed stand-off over the EU’S demand for €60bn to €100bn risks shattering the fragile détente established in September’s fourth-round negotiations after Mrs May’s speech in Florence, which contained key concessions on money and citizens’ rights.
David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, and Michel Barnier, the EU chief negotiator, both described the talks as “con- structive” last month, but acknowledged that major differences remained on money and the role of EU courts in policing the divorce deal.
It is now clear that EU expectations that Britain would flesh out those “commitments” without reference to a future trade deal were misplaced.
Whitehall officials now privately concede that the fundamental impasse will not be broken next week and the UK will not open the door to trade talks when Mrs May meets fellow EU leaders at the summit on Oct 19 and 20.
In the absence of a substantial discussion on money, the UK will instead field a slimmed-down team of negotiators from its usual cast of 100 Whitehall officials, The Daily Telegraph understands. The rump team will focus on a securing a handful of successes on EU citizens’ rights in order to avoid a com- plete breakdown in negotiations. “It is damage limitation,” said a second Whitehall source, “but we want as much progress as possible.”
Sources said Oliver Robbins, the UK’S senior Brexit official, will present further ideas on how to give the European Court of Justice what Mr Barnier called an “indispensable role” in enforcing the Brexit deal, without crossing the UK’S red lines on sovereignty.
However, EU sources said that Mr Barnier would not be satisfied by the UK’S piecemeal approach, and would demand “sufficient progress” on all three areas – the financial settlement, citizens’ rights and Northern Ireland – before talking trade and transition.
“Two out of the three files is not acceptable. It is three out of three or nothing. You can expect him to be quite tough on that at the beginning of next week,” one EU source said.
The decision on sufficient progress will be made on the morning of Oct 20 by EU leaders, who do not expect the hurdle to be cleared and will reaffirm their support for Mr Barnier. Senior EU diplomats told The Daily
Telegraph the decision to drop plans to talk about an early transition came after Mr Johnson’s public interventions on Brexit undermined EU confidence that Mrs May had the authority to make good on her own promises.
“The longer the unravelling continues in London, the less likely it is that Michel Barnier will ask for a relaxing of his mandate so he can talk about transition,” said one diplomat. “No one can be sure if May can keep the promises she appeared to make in Florence.”
Senior sources in the European Parliament working on Brexit added that the Tory party conference had sapped confidence in Mrs May and whether her cabinet would ever be able to decide which version of Brexit it wanted.
“The Tories have to decide what they want, now it remains undecided, so now the unrest will continue. It is not good for the negotiations,” the source said. “In Brussels we want clarity on what the UK and especially the Tories want.”
Mrs May’s travails in Manchester led
‘The Tories have to decide what they want. In Brussels we want clarity on what the UK and especially the Tories want’
the Confederation of German Industry to warn business to “prepare for a very hard Brexit”.
Joachim Lang, the head of the influential group, said the UK Government “talks plenty” but has “no clear plan”, and it would be “naive” for German businesses not to start planning for a hard Brexit. He also criticised the UK’S proposals on future customs agreements as “unreasonably bureaucratic” and “not practical for businesses on a daily basis”.
Theresa Griffin, a Labour MEP, said that Mrs May’s inability to control her team had left the EU “bewildered and frustrated” with the impasse in London. “Conservative infighting has left the EU confused and unclear about the UK’S position,” she said.
Andrew Duff, a former liberal MEP now at the European Policy Centre think-tank, said that the European Commission was positive that Mrs May had not resiled from the promises made in her Florence speech, and was still looking to her to survive.
“Desperate as they find the UK team of May and Davis to be, the alternative, in the form of Boris Johnson, is worse.” he said. “But it will need a stunning performance by David Davis next week to rescue her.”