Brussels bid to squeeze £9bn No Deal Brexit payment from UK if we crash out of EU
Downing Street confirmed this afternoon that the UK would honour its obligations if we left without a deal - but we wouldn't pay every penny we'd promised in the Brexit deal
BRITAIN could be forced to stump up billions of pounds to the EU even if we leave with a No Deal Brexit, it emerged today.
Even if we leave with no agreement in place, then Brussels will still squeeze us for £9billion pounds (around €10bn), it was reported.
A senior EU source told RTÉ News: "We hope to have it wrapped up this week."
They said the Treasury had indicated it could pay up paying for the rest of the year so British farmers can still get grants and officials will get their pensions paid.
Some MPs have vowed not to pay the EU a penny if we leave without a deal.
Brexiteers have insisted they shouldn't get their hands on it until they agree to give us a trade deal as promised.
But a No10 spokesperson confirmed that Britain would still have to pay something no matter what - but claimed it wouldn't be as high as the £39billion that we've said we will pay in the Brexit divorce bill.
They said: "We’ve said before that if we leave without a deal, the financial settlement as set out in the WA will no longer apply.
"This remains our position but, of course, we are a country that that honours our obligations and those would need to be resolved."
Britain has already paid some £6billion to the EU so far this year, but would owe more if we left without a deal.
Some of that money is usually returned to Britain in the form of a rebate, and EU funding for universities and grants.
The EU said last week they now think it's "likely" that the UK will leave the bloc without a deal on April 12 and are preparing for that outcome.
After we leave we have no obligation to keep paying the EU anything at all.
But Brussels think we would beg to restart talks with them if we left with nothing at all as it would be so chaotic, and they could ask us for more cash.
Sir Bill Cash's European Scrutiny Committee warned earlier this month that the EU would "make any such negotiations dependent on the resolution of the financial settlement".
Officials are worried that if we don't pay it would risk our international sovereign debt ratings and international standing.
But David Davis and Dominic Raab, both ex-Brexit Secretaries, have said we shouldn't need to pay the EU at all.
And just last month Brexit minister Kwarsi Kwarteng said the EU wouldn't get a penny if a deal wasn't sealed.
"If there is a no deal they won't get a penny pinch from us," he blasted.
An extension to Brexit Day on March 29 was granted after Theresa May flew to Brussels and secured a delay, but a longer extension until May 22 is now off the table.
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After her deal was rejected for a third time last week, Mrs May is now torn between her Cabinet colleagues - several of whom want her to head for No Deal and the rest who want her to back a soft Brexit customs union which could rip apart her party.
Tonight MPs will vote on what they think should be the way forward for Brexit - but last week not one option got enough votes in the Commons.
If she's forced back to the EU to ask for another extension the bloc are likely to tell her it has to be a long one or they could force her to leave with nothing at all.
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