Theresa May hits back at Brussels and refuses to pay out any divorce bill to the EU until she is given a good Brexit trade deal
THERESA May has refused to pay out any divorce bill to the EU until she is given a good Brexit trade deal.
The PM’s vow sets up a major clash with the remaining 27 EU leaders when Britain’s exit talks start after the General Election.
At a Brussels summit on Saturday, the 27 unanimously agreed on forcing Britain to make “significant progress” on agreeing the size of an exit cheque before any discussions on a future relationship.
Europe’s bosses have threatened to enforce a bill to make up for future commitments already made by the UK that could top £50billion.
Mrs May told BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show: “What they are very clear about is they do want to start discussions about money.”
But she pointedly added: “The EU has also said that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.”
In a major difference in position, the PM wants Brexit talks about a trade deal to run in parallel with any British bill from the outset.
Frustrations are mounting in Brussels with Mrs May’s refusal to agree to eurocrats’ Brexit demands.
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One senior EU official accused her of living in a “parallel reality” for thinking she can win trade advantages from the union while leaving it.
A dinner in No10 last week with EU Commission boss Jean-Claude Juncker is also reported to have gone “very badly”.
The clash led Mr Juncker to ring German leader Angela Merkel who accused Mrs May’s team of suffering from “illusions”.
Mrs May hit back: “I’m not in a different galaxy. But I think what this and other comments from European leaders shows is there are going to be times these negotiations are going to be tough.
“That’s why you need strong and stable leadership in order to conduct those negotiations and get the best deal for Britain.”
The PM also repeated her insistence that leaving the EU with no deal would be better than taking a “bad deal”.
Asked if she still believed it despite softening her language recently, the PM told ITV’s Peston on Sunday: “Yes I do. I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t.”
She repeated her push for a gradual Brexit by introducing a transitional period, insisting: “I don’t want to see a cliff edge where suddenly nobody knows one minute after midnight on the appointed day what their situation is.”
Meanwhile, Theresa May refused to guarantee the triple lock on pensions - which promises they will go up by at least 2.5 per cent, the rate of inflation or in line with wages (whichever is highest).
She insisted that under a Conservative government ";the state pension will still go up every year" but said that "exactly how we calculate that will be in the manifesto".
This is the strongest hint yet that the Tories will throw out the promise they made in 2015 - because it is so expensive to maintain.
Mrs May also hinted that the Tory manifesto would include plans to tackle the growing problem of social care.
"We need to have a sustainable solution," she insisted, to address the "impact of our ageing population."