At some point in the next three weeks Theresa May has a choice to make.

She badly needs to unblock the Brexit process to reassure business, and to a lesser extent the public, so that she can deliver on her pledge to “making a success” of leaving the EU.

The price of doing this she is being told, by other EU leaders, is to concede on the financial settlement which France and Germany in particular are demanding before the talks can move on.

But to concede entirely on the money risks reducing what little leverage Britain has in the trade talks. The EU badly needs British cash and if it has already got it there is little incentive to compromise further down the line.

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