LONDON: Brexit negotiator David Davis on Sunday insisted that Britain would not be forced into accepting unfavorable terms in the face of EU criticism that not enough progress had been made.
Davis clashed with EU counterpart Michel Barnier this week over the Brexit divorce bill, which the bloc has put at €100 billion ($118 billion), a figure Britain rejects.
“What he’s (Barnier) concerned about is that he’s not getting the answer on money and they’ve set this up to try and create pressure on us,” Davis told BBC’s Andrew Marr Show.
“I’m not going to allow them to use that time pressure to force us to do x, y or z.”
Barnier demanded Monday last that London start “negotiating seriously” as a March 2019 deadline looms, with talks stalling over what comes first — the divorce settlement or Britain’s future relationship with the bloc.
“I am concerned, time passes quickly,” Barnier added. Davis responded that “the point about the Europeans, they won’t talk about the future, they’ll only talk about so-called divorce proceedings.”
“We are saying, ‘you’ve given us this enormous bill we’ll go through line by line’, we gave them a two-and-a-half hour presentation, they even complained about that.” Davis dismissed as “silly” EU accusations that no progress had been made.
UK will not be pressured by EU timetable, says Davis
UK will not be pressured by EU timetable, says Davis
