Boris Johnson says European Union can ‘go whistle’ for big Brexit bill

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson yesterday said the European Union can “go whistle” if it thinks it can demand an “extortionate” payment from the UK to leave the bloc.

The EU says Britain has to pay a bill to cover pension liabilities for EU staff and other commitments the UK has agreed to. The bloc says major progress must be made on settling the bill before negotiations can start on the UK’s future relationship with the EU.

Estimates of the amount have ranged up to €100 billion.

Johnson said yesterday that “the sums that I have seen, that they propose to demand from this country, seem to me to be extortionate.”

He told lawmakers in the House of Commons: “I think ‘go whistle’ is an entirely appropriate expression.”

In the meantime, credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has warned that economic growth in Britain will slow sharply over the coming couple of years and that uncertainties related to the country’s exit from the European Union raise further “considerable downside risks” to its already gloomy forecast.

In a report issued yesterday, S&P said growth is set to slow to 1.4 percent this year from 1.8 percent in 2016. The slowdown is expected to continue next year with growth of 0.9 percent predicted.

The agency said growth will be constrained by higher inflation, which keeps a lid on spending, as well as uncertainty over Brexit. Britain has begun the two-year process to leave the EU by March 2019.

As a result, S&P doubts that the Bank of England will raise interest rates soon.