Theresa May to demand £9billion of assets back from the EU in Brexit divorce talks as ministers prepare to trigger Article 50 within days

THERESA MAY is ready to demand £9billion of assets back from the EU in Brexit divorce talks as ministers prepare to trigger Article 50 within days.

Some EU officials have said we could face a £50 billion bill from the bloc - but Government sources say Britain is entitled to get some money back.

reports that Mrs May is ready to press the EU for our share of funds held by the European Investment Bank.

Whitehall guidance also said that the Government is not legally obliged to pay Brussels a penny - and the PM could refuse to foot the Bill.

Two years of Brexit talks are due to be kick-started later this month when Mrs May officially triggers Article 50.

EU chief Jean Claude Juncker said Britain would face a "hefty bill" for Brexit - some have estimated it could hit £50 billion.

He said last month that the EU will seek payment to cover existing spending commitments made by Britain.

He told the Belgian Parliament: “The British should know this, they know this already, that it will not be at a discount or at zero cost.

“The British must respect commitments they were involved in making. So the bill will be, to put it a bit crudely, very hefty.”

But Nigel Farage said the figures being floated were "laughable".

He said: "I don't think there's any appetite for us to pay a massive divorce bill" but admitted there may be some ongoing commitments. 

The PM told EU leaders that it "wasn't what the people voted for" earlier this week.

And the Foreign Secretary insisted that she would get a rebate like Margaret Thatcher did in 1984.

He said it was “not reasonable” for Britain to keep making “vast budget payments” once it has left the EU.

Today David Davis insisted that Britain was preparing for no deal with the EU, despite a scathing new report attacking the lack of contingency planning.

Mr Davis said this morning that he was planning for ALL outcomes - including no deal at all - and that though it would be tough, he was "confident we will get a good outcome".

But the Foreign Secretary tried to distance himself from the idea. He told ITV that considering a no deal was "excessively pessimistic" but that if we had to fall back on WTO rules the consequences would not be "quite as apocalyptic" as people said.

He added that it would be "perfectly OK" if we did not get a deal with the EU - but he was confident that we would do.

Former Deputy PM Lord Heseltine said his claims were "rubbish" and he was using "waffle, charm and delay" to stop answering questions.

The report accused the Brexit Secretary that it would be a "dereliction of duty" if the Government allowed the UK to crash out of the EU without a deal.

It said that leaving the EU on World Trade Organisation rules would be "destructive" and would lead to "mutually assured damage to the EU and the UK".

It said: "there is no evidence to indicate that this is receiving the consideration it deserves or that serious contingency planning is under way".