Britain does not recognise media reports that the government is willing to pay €40 billion (approx. ₹3.1 trillion) to exit the European Union, Prime Minister Theresa May’s spokesman said on Monday.

The so-called “exit bill” is one of the first issues on the Brexit negotiating agenda, and also one of the most contentious. The EU has floated a figure of €60 billion, while Britain has not indicated how much it would be prepared to pay.

The Sunday Telegraph reported that Britain would be willing to pay up to €40 billion, citing three unnamed sources familiar with Britain’s negotiating strategy. “In terms of this figure, I don’t recognise it,” Ms. May’s spokesman told reporters. “The Prime Minister made clear in the letter triggering Article 50 [the EU exit process] that the U.K. and the EU need to discuss a fair settlement of both our rights and obligations as an EU member state.”

Tight schedule

Britain has less than two years to negotiate the terms of its exit from the EU — an unprecedented untangling of more than 40 years of legal, economic and political ties.

When asked whether Britain and the EU were expecting to come up with a firm figure for the exit bill at this stage in the talks, or a less precise agreement covering the rules which would be used to calculate it, the spokesman said: “I'm not getting into a running commentary on the negotiations or the precise structure of them.”

The Bill is expected to be made up of money Britain has already committed to the multi-year EU budget, ongoing financial risks it agreed during its membership to help cover, and a contribution to the pension scheme for EU officials.