Britain’s Brexit negotiator David Davis has been forced to deny reports in Sunday papers that Prime Minister Theresa May had already secretly agreed to pay the controversial ‘Brexit Bill’, as a senior Eurocrat has demanded the payments be extended years into the future.
Newspapers including The Sun reported that Theresa May was ready to sign off on a £46 billion payment to the European Union in return for a so-called ‘soft-Brexit’ overnight to Sunday, forcing David Davis to defend the government and his negotiations Sunday morning.
Rejecting the reports of a “secretly” agreed deal with the Prime Minister and the European Union as “nonsense”, speaking on the Andrew Marr Show Sunday morning Davis nonetheless admitted the British people would still be paying some money.
Echoing threats made by EU lead negotiator Michel Barnier on Thursday as the third round of Brexit talks came to an acrimonious end, in which the Eurocrat repeatedly warned there would be “consequences” for the United Kingdom, Davis said Sunday: “We are a country that meets our international obligations. It’s best to leave on amicable terms. There are issues if you just walk away.”
Despite analysis that shows Britain is in credit with the European Union and has over the years paid in significantly more than it has ever received, Mr Davis told Marr: “We’ll still be paying something”, but said the payments wouldn’t last long and wouldn’t continue into the “medium to long-term.”
These reassurances that Britain’s payments to the European Union won’t continue into the medium or even long term by Mr Davis may yet be frustrated, however, after European Union budget commissioner Gunther Oettinger said: “the European Union expects the British to hold commitments”.
He said the United Kingdom should continue to pay into EU budgets until 2023 — four years after the official departure date for the nation from the Union reports the Telegraph.
Echoing those who believe Britain shouldn’t pay a penny, least of all extend payments into the next decade, UKIP’s Brexit spokesman and London MEP Gerard Batten said of the demand: “Britain is not legally obliged to pay the EU anything and certainly not until 2023.”
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