The UK will quit Brexit talks unless the European Union (EU) drops its demands of a divorce payment of €100 billion (Dh411 billion), Brexit Secretary David Davis said.
Britain’s negotiations on leaving the EU would otherwise be plunged into “chaos”, and even a £1 billion settlement would be “a lot of money”, Davis said in an interview published in the Sunday Times.
The size of Britain’s exit bill, and which types of negotiations can begin before it has been agreed, has been a source of debate for weeks.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has said the UK will have to pay about £50 billion, while Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Xavier Bettel has signalled a figure between €40 billion and €60 billion. The Financial Times estimated the cost could balloon to €100 billion, while a study by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales put the cost at as little as £5 billion.
Prime Minister Theresa May’s government has said it will meet its commitments to the EU, but has questioned how the EU’s preliminary estimates have been reached.
“We don’t need to just look like we can walk away, we need to be able to walk away,” Davis said. “Under the circumstances, if that was necessary, we would be in a position to do it.”
In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, May said: “Money paid in the past” by the UK into joint EU projects and the European Investment Bank ought to be taken account in the final divorce bill.
“There is much debate about what the UK’s obligations might be or indeed what our rights might be,” she said. “We make it clear that we would look at those both rights and obligations.”
