UK to fight for every penny over Brexit divorce bill

Conservative MP Mike Wood said the EU nations had 'made a sensible decision' by agreeing at yesterday's Brussels summit to start internal talks over a trade deal, paving the way for official negotiations to start with the UK in December.

But the Dudley South MP said it was 'laughable' to suggest that the UK would be 'writing out a blank cheque' over how much the UK would prepare to pay to leave the bloc.

Eurosceptic Stone MP Sir Bill Cash accused the EU of being irresponsible by not publicly disclosing a final settlement figure regarding Britain's financial obligations.

The divorce bill is a major sticking point in talks with the EU, and Theresa May has refused to deny that she had told other EU leaders the UK could pay more than the £20 billion she had indicated in her Florence speech last month.

Mr Wood, who during the referendum was the only MP in the Black Country to campaign for Brexit, said: "The European Council has made a sensible decision to start internal negotiations over trade.

"It is clear that a trade deal will benefit them as much as it will benefit us. This is a step by step process and progress has been steady.

"There was always going to be a lot of public posturing from the EU during the early part of the negotiation but we appear to be getting past that now."

On the divorce bill he said: "Michel Barnier and Jean-Claude Juncker have been doing their best to run down the clock in the hope that we will suddenly quadruple the amount of money we are willing to pay.

"That is not going to happen. [Brexit Secretary] David Davis is right to fight for every single penny. It is quite frankly laughable for anyone to expect the Government to be writing a blank cheque to the EU."

Mr Cash called on the EU to stop playing 'a game of irresponsible brinkmanship' with the UK and urged European Council President Donald Tusk to reveal the divorce bill figure.

"They just want to get as much out of us possible but have been unwilling to reveal their calculations," he said.

"My proposal is for the EU to publish their figure and for us to publish ours. Then we can start a proper negotiation based on actual calculations."

Mr Tusk appeared to slap down Mr Juncker and Mr Barnier by insisting that there had been progress on the Brexit talks and that reports of a deadlock had been exaggerated.

He said: "While progress has not been sufficient, it doesn’t mean there has been no progress at all

"The negotiations go on and we will continue to approach them positively and constructively. I hope that we will be able to move to the second phase of our talks in December."