Davis refusing to show hand on EU divorce bill... but it won’t be £80bn
DAVID Davis will rebuff demands from Brussels to put a figure on Britain’s EU divorce fee when departure talks resume next week.
The Brexit Secretary is facing pressure from EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier to spell out exactly how much taxpayers’ cash the Government is prepared to pay to escape the bloc.
Whitehall insiders say Mr Davis will refuse to name a figure when he faces the bureaucrat in the negotiating chamber in Brussels.
“We are not going to play that game,” one UK source close to the talks said.
Suspicions
Mr Davis has previously confirmed that the Government is ready to meet any financial “obligations” such as outstanding pension liabilities and agreed funding for EU programmes on exit.
But he has rejected suggestions from European Commission sources that the fee could be up to £80billion.
Some Whitehall insiders have suggested the payment could be closer to £35billion.
However, sources close to the negotiating team insist Mr Davis does not want to reveal his hand over the payment because of suspicions the EU team will attempt to force the figure upward. One source said: “It would be like turning up half your cards.”
Officials are braced for EU negotiators to try to wear them down with a deluge of complex financial demands.
Mr Barnier has claimed the expected bill is “incontestable” but British officials say his arguments have been “hugely unconvincing”.
Mr Davis will face Mr Barnier in the third round of Brexit talks next week.
Insiders say issues to be discussed are largely “technical” and are not expecting significant breakthroughs.
Over the past few days, the Department for Exiting the EU has published a series of documents setting out the UK’s negotiating position on issues including data protection and resolving crossborder legal dispute.
But EU insiders have been dismissive. One Brussels diplomat said: “We feel they’ve come up with these papers to distract attention from the financial settlement.”
However, at the weekend Mr Davis urged the EU to back down over insisting the divorce bill must be settled before talks on a future trade relationship.
In an article, he wrote: “Early rounds of negotiations have demonstrated many questions around our withdrawal are inextricably linked to our future relationship.”
A source close to Mr Davis rejected Mr Barnier’s accusation that Britain was to blame for slow progress in the talks, citing the Northern Ireland issue which “we cannot really settle” without discussing the wider future trade relationship.