Brexit betrayal: EU says UK will pay BILLIONS as May buckles to divorce bill pressure
THERESA May has agreed to pay a set share of EU budgets after Brexit, according to a senior Brussels official, as the divorce bill deadlock looks to have finally been broken.
However, the EU official said no precise figure has been agreed, which could mean the divorce bill is much higher than the £40 billion figure that has been reported.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, an EU official said: "The official offer has not been submitted, but unofficially it has been agreed to such an extent that if no one decides to stage a last-minute complete turnaround everything will be OK.
"It is a deal on what percentage share Britain will cover and on what items."
A spokesman for Britain's Department for Exiting the European Union was not immediately available for comment.
Related articles
GETTY
The EU official added the bloc's negotiators are “optimistic” about reaching an agreement in order to officials to open talks on post-Brexit ties at next month’s summit.
The amount to be paid in future will depend on a variety of variables, ranging from whether loan guarantees had to be exercised to the vagaries of the sterling-euro exchange rate and relative growth in the British and EU economies.
Among key budget lines that Britain has committed to was covering a share of disbursements from the EU budget in years beyond the current seven-year EU budget ending in 2020.
The EU official said: “We have agreed a certain formula how to calculate that share. So we take each line in the budget and apply the share to it.”
Earlier this week, Theresa May rejected suggestions that the Government was ready to fork out £50billion for the Brexit divorce bill.
AFP
The Prime Minister said she was "still in negotiations" with Brussels and insisted: "Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed."
Mrs May spoke out after Tory MPs raised concerns that the Government was caving in to Brussels demands.
In the Commons, one backbencher warned that the Government was "dancing to the tune" of the European Commission while another feared a multi-billion divorce fee would be "betraying" voters who backed leaving the EU in last year's referendum.
Speaking during a visit to Iraq, Mrs May rejected suggestions that the final deal had been concluded.
GETTY
"No, we are still in negotiations with the European Union; as the EU themselves have said, nothing is agreed until everything is agreed," said the Prime Minister, who was visiting British troops involved with training Iraqi forces to tackle terrorism.
Mrs May, who is due to meet European President Jean-Claude Junker for talks in Brussels on Monday, was "optimistic" that the negotiations will produce a good deal for both the UK and EU.
She said: "We are working hard with the EU to ensure that we can move together, but what I am clear about is that we need to move together.
"We are working hard to ensure that we get the movement onto the trade talks, that I think is not just our interests, but in the interests of the rest of the EU."
