Boris Johnson slaps down EU over Brexit ‘divorce bill’ and says money before talks ‘is not going to happen’ as Angela Merkel keeps playing hardball

BORIS Johnson has poured cold water over EU demands that Britain pays a massive Brexit ‘divorce bill’ to start talks on a new trade deal.

The Foreign Secretary slapped down demands from Brussels that Theresa May signs a cheque for £50billion before both sides get round the table.

He said the Prime Minister should “hang very tough indeed” as EU leaders get ready for a summit where they will nail down their negotiating guidelines.

Speaking to the BBC Mr Johnson said: “If you're saying that they want the money before they get any substantive talks then that is obviously not going to happen."

But at the same time Angela Merkel was speaking to the German parliament, telling MPs the EU plans to take a tough stance against the UK.

The chancellor, and key figure in the upcoming talks, said the UK's “binding financial commitments” will be a priority from “the very start”.

And she said without progress on them there is "no sense to talk about future relationship", raiding the prospect of an impasse over the ‘divorce bill’.

Ms Merkel added that: "You may think this is all obvious. But I'm afraid I get the sense some in Britain still have illusions about Brexit."

And escalating the situation further she said the EU should not punish the UK, but that “frankly, Britain is not our top priority at the moment”.

She also said Britain will not retain the same rights and privileges it has now in the EU when it leaves the bloc.

Ms Merkel said while Europe still envisions London as a close partner, it will be an outsider, adding: "All of the 27 members of the European Union and European institutions are agreed upon that."

But in his interview this morning Mr Johnson also claimed Germany had blocked a Government attempt to get an agreement on EU citizens, something they deny.

He said it was Berlin who were blocking an agreement on the rights of around three million EU nationals in the UK and a million Britons who live on the continent before triggering Article 50 to begin exit talks.

"As Theresa May has said, this is a priority for us, we want to guarantee their rights, to give them the maximum possible stability and security," he told the BBC.

"Alas, we made an offer by the way before Christmas that we would do a deal in advance of the negotiations, that was turned down you may recall by Germany, we're left in a position where we have to do a reciprocal deal, and we're fine with that."