10 Downing St: We do not recognise £36bn 'divorce bill' figure
1 min read
Read a rundown of the regular briefing with the Prime Minister's official spokesman.
The spokesman would not be drawn on reports claiming the UK is prepared to pay a £36bn 'divorce bill' to the EU.
"We made clear, the Prime Minister made clear in the letter triggering A50 that UK and EU need to discuss a fair settlement of both our rights and obligations but in terms of this figure, I don't recognise it, no.
"If I don't recognise the figure, I don't recognise the figure...We are not going to provide a running commentary or negotiate our position in public."
SIMON FRASER
He dismissed claims from former Foreign Office mandarin Simon Fraser that the talks have not been going well so far.
"We would disagree strongly, the last two months we've had a constructive start to negotiations, we've covered a significant amount of common ground.
"[The Prime Minister's] Lancaster House [speech] set out a very clear plan and that's the plan that we're working towards."
He added that the Government were "making contingency plans" in the event of not agreeing a deal with the EU.
