Brexiteers are urging Theresa May to take a tough line at a crucial summit in Brussels tomorrow after EU chiefs caused fury by branding a 20billion euro divorce bill 'peanuts'.

The president of the European parliament, Antonio Tajani, accused Mrs May of being 'unrealistic' and said Britain should be forced to pump around 60billion euros into the bloc's coffers.

The bitter standoff over money is threatening to derail Brexit negotiations, with the government admitting there is zero chance EU leaders will authorise trade talks at the meeting.

Ministers complained that EU is 'stalling' negotiations in a bid to force Britain into handing over billions of pounds with 'nothing in return'.

And a Downing Street source rejected the idea of making further concessions on cash, saying: 'We have made an open and generous offer.'

The president of the European parliament, Antonio Tajani, accused Theresa May of being 'unrealistic' and said the divorce bill should be around 60billion euros

Senior backbencher Jacob Rees-Mogg said Mr Tajani's attitude 'shows the lax approach of the EU to spending, that they think 20billion euros is a small amount of money'.

'We technically don't owe them anything. I would encourage the PM to say that if we leave without a deal they don't get anything,' he told MailOnline.

'The 20billion euros is for a deal. It is not if we leave without anything.

'The EU needs to know that if they don't do a deal they will have a huge hole in their budgets up until at least 2021.'

But Mr Rees-Mogg said he would 'not recommend' walking away from the talks, insisting it was best to put points 'firmly but politely' and stay engaged.

TOXIC FUMES FORCE VENUE CHANGE FOR EU SUMMIT The EU summit has been switched from the Europa building (pictured today) amid concerns about poisonous fumes from drains at the glitzy venue The venue for the EU summit is being changed at the last moment - after the bloc's Brussels HQ was flooded with toxic fumes. Leaders were meant to gather at the new Europa building, known as the Egg. It only opened in January amid controversy over cost. But less than 24 hours before the start the summit has been switched amid concerns about poisonous fumes from drains at the glitzy venue. Advertisement

Money has emerged as the key issue in the first phase, with the EU refusing to discuss trade until the outline of the financial settlement is agreed.

Brussels' chief negotiator Michel Barnier has sought to up the pressure by repeatedly pointing out that the 'clock is ticking' before the formal Brexit date in March 2019.

Mrs May will head to the Belgian capital tomorrow for a summit where she will seek to push the case for trade talks to begin immediately.

But a major diplomatic offensive, which has seen the PM ring round almost all her counterparts over the past week and dine with European commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, has so far failed to secure a breakthrough.

Speaking on the BBC's Newsnight, Mr Tajani took a hard line and quoted former PM Margaret Thatcher saying 'we need our money back'.

'We are realistic. The UK government is not realistic. I think we need to be very clear. We need to put the money on the table. We need our money back, as Mrs Thatcher said 30, 40 years ago,' he said.

'This is important for us. But we want not euro more and not euro less. This is very clear for us. But we need to pay, this is the third point, then it is possible to start for the negotiations for the new deal.'

Challenged that the EU was holding up talks to force money out of the UK, Mr Tajani replied: '€​20bn is peanuts, it's peanuts €20bn...The problem is 50, 60, this is the real situation.'

Mr Tajani lashed out at infighting on the British side, claiming that the EU was not clear 'what the UK wants to do'.

Theresa May, pictured in the Commons today, is embroiled in a bitter standoff with the EU over the Brexit process

Mrs May dined in Brussels with EU commission president Jean-Claude Juncker on Tuesday as she tried to find a way of unblocking the Brexit negotiations

Brexit Secretary David Davis told MPs yesterday that the talks were reaching the 'limits of what can be achieved' without discussing trade

'This is the problem. It is not very clear because there are a lot of problems inside the European Union. We are united.

GERMANS DRAW UP DRAFT TRADE CALL Germany has started work on draft post-Brexit trade rules despite an apparent stalemate in Brussels, it emerged today. A draft paper prepared for the foreign office in Berlin calls for a 'comprehensive free trade accord' with Britain. The four-page memo lays out the most detailed German position seen so far. It proposes a partnership taking in linked foreign and security policy, counter terrorism and criminal justice. The paper says German 'shares the UK's desire to secure a close partnership with the Union'. Advertisement

'I don't know if there is a unity, where is the unity in the United Kingdom? Because there are many different positions.

'We have only one position, only one negotiator,' he said.

'In the Conservative Party, there are different position. This is not good for a good work in the next month.

'We ask, please, we need a Conservative decision on this. Which is the line to take between the three different position.

'For us it's important know.'

Ireland's PM Leo Varadkar has also complained that the EU was still unsure what the UK hoped to achieve in a Brexit deal.

But former Cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith said Brussels was using bullying tactics to pursue its 'agenda'.

'The EU has decided to drag its feet in the negotiations and refuse to discuss anything other than its own agenda,' he wrote on the Brexit Central website.

HOW THE EU HAS PUMPED UP THE BREXIT DIVORCE BILL EU states have been piling on demands as they realise the scale of the hole about to be left in the bloc's finances by the departure of its second biggest contributor. The key elements of the divorce demand from Brussels include: The UK should keep paying into EU coffers until 2021 - after we formally leave - because that is when budgets have been set until.

Farm subsidy payments and EU administration fees for 2019 and 2020.

Britain should fund agreed loans that have already been agreed to poorer EU states.

Paying for relocation of EU agencies to other states after Brexit.

UK to be denied a share of the bloc's assets, such as buildings, which could have brought the sum down.

Other costs include around 10billion euros towards funding generous pensions for thousands of Eurocrats. Advertisement

'That EU agenda is, of course, all about money — as much as they can get out of the UK in return for engaging on post-Brexit trade arrangements.

'All that nonsense about 'sufficient progress' is of course a crude smokescreen to disguise a naked attempt to force us into a major financial commitment with nothing in return. That is why the talks have stalled.'

Urging Mrs May to take a tough stance, Mr Duncan Smith dismissed the idea that failure to strike a trade deal would be 'cataclysmic, a cliff edge and a disaster'.

'The truth is far from that,' he wrote. 'Yes, we want a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) – but not at any price. The alternative to an FTA isn’t nothing, it’s a set of arrangements from within the WTO which will not include a very specific trade deal between the UK and the EU. It does however allow for some flexibility on trade tariffs for a period between us whilst we continue talks, should we choose to do so.'

In a sign of the economic risk caused by the uncertainty in the Brexit process, a senior City figure warned that firms would have no choice but to move jobs to other European Union countries in order to ensure they can keep trading unless progress was made.

London Stock Exchange chief Xavier Rolet said that regulatory systems that will change as a result of Brexit 'cannot be replicated overnight' so businesses will simply make their own arrangements and move to the EU if they are not given sufficient notice.

OECD chief Angel Gurria, pictured yesterday, compared the challenges of Brexit to the Blitz, which saw bombs from Hitler's forces rain down on London during the Second World War

'Businesses cannot risk a cliff-edge being so near before they start accelerating the migration of functions away from the UK to ensure they can participate in the global market,' he wrote in the Daily Telegraph.

But Mr Rolet also warned European leaders that protectionist moves to strip London of its role in euro clearing could trigger another global financial meltdown.

Taking back euro trading into the Eurozone would 'increase systemic financial risk' because 'the global monitoring of risk would be impaired and that risk more heavily concentrated'.

He said: 'To those who want to dismantle rather than build on a system of global regulatory standards that protects taxpayers and reduces the cost of capital, we say: do not willingly diminish systemically important global financial market infrastructure just to make a political point.'

THE STICKING POINT IN BREXIT TALKS The first phase of Brexit negotiations appear to be boiling down to money - with the EU seeking to extract the maximum possible from the UK. Michel Barnier made clear last week that there was a 'disturbing' deadlock on the scale of a divorce bill. The EU wants the UK to give a broad commitment to meeting all liabilities - including elements such as pension for Eurocrats - for years after we leave. The PM has refused to go that far, despite floating a £20billion contribution during a transition and offering a limited promise on liabilities. On citizens' rights, Mr Barnier has insisted the UK must accept that EU courts will enforce the rights of EU nationals in Britain after Brexit. Mrs May has said she cannot accept the ECJ being solely responsible, but there have been signs a compromise with joint jurisdiction could be in the offing. Diplomats now believe the main issues have been resolved, and a deal could be struck. But the EU is thought to be holding back to provide cover for its financial demands. Advertisement

Brexit Secretary David Davis told MPs last night that a deal was close on securing the rights of 3.2million EU citizens in the UK and 1.2million Britons living in Europe.

But he said that Brussels was refusing to discuss trade relations in an attempt to secure a bigger divorce payment.

He said: 'The simple truth is that we are in a negotiation and they are using time pressure to see whether they can get more money out of us – that is what is going on, as is obvious to anybody.

'That will take some time, but I am sure we will get there in time to get a decent outcome for everybody.'

Downing Street yesterday confirmed it would not set out the total it was willing to pay until talks with the EU on trade had concluded.

MPs tore into a Paris-based think-tank yesterday for suggesting Brexit should be reversed to save the British economy - branding it the return of 'Project Fear'.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said quitting the EU in a disorderly way could cripple the UK economy.

And it said holding a fresh referendum to stay in the bloc would be 'positive' for UK business.

Speaking at the launch of the bleak report in London, OECD secretary general, Angel Gurria, compared Brexit to the Blitz.

But a string of MPs slammed the assessment saying it was yet another example of Brexit gloom from an organisation hellbent on talking down Britain's economy.

A Government spokesman said: 'We are leaving the EU and there will not be a second referendum.'