What began as a negotiation has now descended into capitulation. 

Although the details have not been confirmed there are reports that ministers are willing to pay Brussels up to £50billion in their desperation to kick-start trade talks. 

Even by today’s fiscally profligate standards this is a colossal sum. 

It represents a surrender to financial blackmail. 

In an attempt to defend its decision the Government maintains that this is the price Britain has to pay for an advantageous, post-Brexit trade agreement.   

According to the Cabinet, the money will secure good relations with Brussels and thereby lubricate the discussions over a deal, with the short-term cost of the settlement far outweighed by the long-term benefits of a strong commercial partnership between Britain and the EU. 

Theoretically there could be some basis to that point. 

But in reality such an argument is largely based on wishful thinking since there is no guarantee that the EU will offer Britain a reasonable trade agreement. 

Just the opposite is true. 

Having seen how swiftly our negotiators have caved in at the first turn of the screw, the EU will not feel under any pressure to make concessions. 

That is partly what makes this week’s news so depressing.  

Through its cowardly generosity the Government has lost much of its leverage in future negotiations. Given the EU’s extravagance, our cash was a tremendous bargaining chip. 

Now it has been thrown away. 

Further retreat now seems almost inevitable. 

After the disastrous 1938 Munich agreement, which was hailed as bringing “peace in our time”, Churchill wisely predicted more national humiliation would follow: “This is only the beginning of the reckoning. 

"This is only the first sip, the first foretaste of a bitter cup which will be proffered to us year by year.”  

Those words could soon be applied to the British withdrawal talks. 

In its naivety the Government has failed to recognise just how ruthless the EU negotiators really are. 

That is because, like all zealots, they are driven by an overpowering sense of ideological purpose. 

In their determination to build the federal superstate they will allow nothing to stand in the way, so Britain must be punished for daring to challenge their vision of political unity. 

The former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has warned that there will be no meaningful negotiations at all over a Brexit deal because the EU “loathes democracy” and “clings to exorbitant illegitimate power”.  

That case was made by the experience of Tony Blair’s government, which agreed to a massive cut in Britain’s rebate in return for the reform of agricultural subsidies. 

Brussels happily took Britain’s money but did nothing about farming. 

The tragedy of the Government’s current approach is that we could end up with the worst of all worlds over the coming years, forced to pay billions to the EU and abide by its rules on trade, immigration, justice and tax yet denied any say in its governance. 

That is certainly not what the majority of British people voted for when they backed Brexit last year. 

Nor is there a shred of justification for the EU’s extortionate demands.  

We constantly hear talk of a so-called “divorce” settlement but the analogy is utterly bogus. 

Britain was never “married” to the EU and we have no long-term responsibility to the organisation. 

The real parallel is with a club, which Britain has decided to leave because it is badly run, its subscription is too high, its membership has changed dramatically and its rules have become oppressive. 

No one who leaves a club is expected to pay an exit fee or remain liable for future commitment. 

The whole saga of the “divorce” bill is a farce.  

The very fact that the estimated sum due has oscillated so wildly, sometimes reaching an incredible 100billion euros, shows that it has no basis in financial reality. 

It is in practice a political ransom note, not a genuine bill. 

Ministers blather about Britain’s share of pension liabilities in the EU workforce but only four per cent of staff in Brussels are British so the burden is a small one. 

The grimmer, more pertinent truth is that the EU wants our cash to prop up its sprawling bureaucratic empire, including its lavish perks for officials, its network of expensive premises at home and abroad, and its grotesquely mismanaged programmes. 

The £50billion ransom would be far better spent at home. 

As last week’s Budget demonstrated, the NHS and national defence are all crying out for more funds.  

It could be pointed out that the EU demand could easily be met over the next three years without imposing any cuts on public expenditure, simply by slashing the £13.3billion annual foreign aid budget. 

But the fact that such a proposal is a non-starter shows how the British establishment gives little priority to our real national interests. 

Our only hope now is that the Government’s policy actually works, with Brussels now motivated to offer Britain a good trade deal. 

It is not out of the question, given that the EU is more troubled than it pretends, beset by an anti-federalist insurgency across the continent and political crises in Ireland, Germany and Spain. 

But to capitalise on such weakness the British Government will have to show more determination than it is has so far displayed over the financial settlement.