Divorce from EU gets ugly
Euro chief blasts Davis as pound plummets
BREXIT Secretary David Davis was slammed yesterday for failing to outline a “clear UK position” following four days of deadlocked talks.
His EU counterpart, Michel Barnier, warned of “fundamental divergence” over rights for three million EU nationals living here and 1.2 million Brits on the continent.
And he demanded to know where we stand on the estimated £85billion divorce bill before talking trade deals.
The end of the first round of talks came as the pound plunged to an eight-month low against the euro at €1.12. Sterling also dipped below $1.30 against the dollar amid fears ministers are ready to walk away from talks without a deal. Mr Barnier said: “A clarification of the UK position is indispensable for us to negotiate and for us to make sufficient progress on this financial dossier, which is inseparable from other withdrawal dossiers.
“What we want is an orderly withdrawal, that’s decided.
“An orderly withdrawal means accounts must be settled. We know that agreement will not be achieved through incremental steps.
“As soon as the UK is ready to clarify the nature of its commitments, we will be prepared to discuss this.”
Mr Barnier added that while “one has to compromise in negotiations... we are not there yet”.
Mr Davis arrived in Brussels on Monday but returned to London three hours later, leaving EU and UK officials to negotiate without him.
He went back to the Belgian capital on Wednesday, ahead of yesterday’s closing press conference – where he was embarrassingly slapped down.
Mr Davis admitted talks had been “robust” but added: “There is a lot left to talk about. A solution will require flexibility from both sides.”
But Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer said: “On issues such as the rights of EU citizens in the UK and UK citizens in Europe, Labour has been calling for action since July last year. The lack of progress on this and other issues also calls into ques- tion whether phase two of the negotiations can commence in October.”
Earlier, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox claimed a trade deal with the EU should be “one of the easiest in human history” to strike – but we could “survive” without one.
Speaking to the BBC, Dr Fox also said there could be a two-year “implementation phase” after we officially quit the bloc in March 2019.