‘May must bite bullet and pay £50bn bill’ – Mandelson
THERESA MAY should “bite the bullet” and pay the multibillion-pound exit bill from the EU as soon as possible, Labour’s former minister Lord Mandelson has said.
The former European trade commissioner said the bill – expected to amount to around £50bn to cover financial commitments the UK has entered into as an EU member – was “small change” compared to the amounts at risk if the UK foregoes a trade deal with the remaining 27 members.
He urged the Prime Minister to resist pressure from “wild men” in her own party and the Brexit-backing press trying to push her into taking the UK out of the European Union without a deal.
Senior members of the Government have insisted that Britain will not pay a bill of the scale suggested by European Commission negotiator Michel Barnier, with International Trade Secretary Liam Fox branding the idea “absurd”.
But Lord Mandelson, a leading member of the Open Britain group, warned that refusal to “settle the tab” would result in the UK being hauled before the international courts and would scupper any chance of future trade agreement with Europe. Britain would be exposed to “the sort of retaliatory action we couldn’t bear economically,” he warned.
The Labour peer said it would be a “sign of insanity” to try to use the threat of leaving without a deal as a negotiating tactic, as the economic consequences would be much greater for the UK than the rest of Europe.
He called on the Prime Minister to build a broad coalition of support outside her party for the compromises she will have to make on issues like “divorce bill” payments, timetabling of talks and continuation of European Court of Justice jurisdiction and free movement during any transitional period. If she did so, it would be “churlish” of Remain supporters like himself not to wish her well, he said.