Secretary for exiting EU will refuse to disclose Britain’s financial obligations in next round of talks

David Davis will refuse to reveal any details about what Britain could pay towards a Brexit bill when European Union exit talks resume next week, it has emerged, a choice certain to inflame tensions with Brussels.

The Brexit secretary has conceded that Britain has “obligations” from its 44 years of EU membership, but will not say anything about what they might be when he meets the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, in Brussels next week, according to a person familiar with the negotiations.



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The refusal to go into details on the UK’s acknowledged obligations will add to the view that talks on Britain’s future relationship with the bloc could be delayed beyond the autumn. The EU will decide in October whether Britain has made sufficient progress on Brexit divorce issues, including money, that will allow talks to move on to trade.

A person familiar with the negotiations said Britain would not be disclosing its financial obligations during the three-and-a-half-day negotiating round next week. “It would be like turning up half your cards,” they said.

Instead, British officials will subject their EU counterparts to a barrage of legal arguments, to contest the reputed €75bn (£69bn) divorce bill. The total includes a share of EU pension liabilities, unpaid bills and pending budget payments, although Barnier has never put a number on the financial settlement he is seeking.

“We are in the season of the Great British Bake Off, aren’t we. So we will make it clear that they have massively overegged their demands,” the person said – bringing the popular cookery show into the Brexit debate for probably the first time.



The British think EU negotiators will try to wear them down, getting them to accept myriad financial demands, as negotiations progress over the autumn. “In an ideal world they want to salami-slice us, step by step by step,” the source said. “And on you go, up and up, and there is the bill. That is not going to happen and we are not going to play that game.”



Barnier has described the multibillion-euro bill as “incontestable” and said it results from legal obligations the UK took on as a member state. British officials describe his case as “hugely unconvincing” and plan to pick apart the EU claims budget line by line.

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The refusal to go into details is also part of Davis’s strategy of “constructive ambiguity”. The Brexit secretary said last week that British intentions were meant to be difficult to read. “I’m afraid in negotiations you do have constructive ambiguity from time to time.”

This approach is likely to irritate Barnier, who has warned talks cannot progress to trade without progress on the divorce settlement. When the last round of talks broke up in July he criticised the UK for failing to offer details on their financial dues. “We can’t do anything without a global picture, as for instance what the United Kingdom are prepared to accept as being their obligation,” he said.



Both sides agree there will be no figure on the Brexit bill this year. EU officials know the issue is politically toxic for the government and are prepared to defer agreeing the final sum until the end of Brexit negotiations in 2018.

Against this fractious backdrop, neither side is expecting a breakthrough in the next stage of talks, Brexit round III. The Brexit bill is expected to generate the most tensions during the talks, which are likely to start on Monday. The two sides will also discuss citizens’ rights, the Irish border and a host of arcane “other issues”, such as what happens to goods in lorries and ports the day after Brexit in March 2019.

Two more rounds are scheduled before Barnier issues his “sufficient progress” report card to EU leaders in October.