David Davis in fresh EU talks today amid cabinet tensions over strategy
BREXIT Secretary David Davis is set to embark on the fourth round of talks on Britain’s EU withdrawal amid continuing tensions among ministers over the Government’s negotiating strategy.
Following Theresa May’s declaration in Florence that she would be seeking a two-year transition after Brexit in 2019, Mr Davis confirmed the UK would pay in “roughly” £10bn a year during that period.
However, he suggested claims in Brussels that the final settlement once pensions and other liabilities were taken into account could be double that amount were “made up” and the UK would continue to challenge the EU’s financial demands.
“Things like pensions and other things, these are debatable, to say the least,” he said in an interview with BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show.
“The last time we went through line by line and challenged quite a lot of the legal basis of these things and we’ll continue to do that.
“That doesn’t mean that we want to see our allies and friends in Europe massively disadvantaged in the next few years and that’s what we’re aiming not to do.”
Asked about claims by “Brussels sources”, quoted in The Times, that the final settlement could be around £40bn, Mr Davis said: “They sort of made that up too.”
He added: “I’m not going to do an actual number on air, it would be ridiculous to do that, but we have a fairly clear idea where we’re going on this,” he said.
In her speech on Friday, Mrs May sought to reassure member states that they would not lose out financially during the current EU budget period, which runs to 2020, in an attempt to end the stalemate in the Brussels negotiations.
However, hopes in Downing Street that her address would also end the Cabinet tensions over Brexit appear to have come to nothing.
The Sunday Times reported that Chancellor Philip Hammond had been pressing for a longer transition period, while the Sunday Telegraph said Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson had now demanded fresh assurances Britain would not adopt any new EU rules and regulations during the transition.
In his interview, Mr Davis made clear that while the UK would be leaving the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), the existing arrangements would apply during the transition.
“We’ll come out from under the jurisdiction and the law-making of the European Union, we’ll have a couple of years which allows people to adapt,” he said.
A Department for Exiting the EU source said: “The framework for this period would be the existing structure of EU rules and regulations.”
In her speech, the Prime Minister said EU nationals would still be able to come to live in and work in the UK during the transition period, although they would have to register with the UK authorities.
She also promised the rights of EU citizens living in the UK would be written into British law and that the British courts would be able to take account of the rulings of the ECJ.
However Mr Davis made clear that they would not be able to enforce their rights through the ECJ as the EU has been demanding.
“That’s not going to happen. Basically the aim with the withdrawal treaty will be to have British citizens in Europe and European citizens in Britain treated broadly similarly,” he said.
“We are not under any circumstances going to be accepting the overarching supremacy of the European Court. That’s going.”
He said it was “quite likely” that there would be a system of joint EU-UK courts to resolve disputes in this and other areas.
“Most international treaties, the Canadian-European trade treaty for example, have arbitration mechanisms that work between the two countries,” he said.
“Normally what happens is it’s something like one of theirs, one of ours and one neutral panel, or something like that. And that’s almost certainly where we’ll end up on this. ”
Asked if he agreed with Home Secretary Amber Rudd, who accused the Foreign Secretary of acting as a “backseat driver”, Mr Davis sidestepped the question, saying: “My car’s only got two seats.”
Liberal Democrat chief whip Alistair Carmichael said the Government was in total disarray and called on the Prime Minister to bring her warring ministers to heel.
“She should give Boris the boot and re-assert her authority. If she cannot do that then she should stand aside for someone who can,” he said.
While Mr Barnier has welcomed the “constructive spirit” of Mrs May’s speech, it is unclear whether it will be enough to unlock the talks and enable them to move to the next stage covering Britain’s future relations with the EU, including a free trade deal.
He said the EU still had questions relating to future citizens’ rights and the border with Ireland, as well as the financial settlement which needed to be resolved before they could move forward.