Britain rubbishes $73b Brexit divorce bill

This article is more than 12 months old

Sep 25, 2017 06:00 am

LONDON: Brexit negotiator David Davis yesterday dismissed a report that Britain was prepared to pay a £40 billion (S$73 billion) divorce bill on leaving the European Union.

The Times quoted a "Brussels source" in its report on Saturday, but Mr Davis told BBC Television that "they sort of made that up".

"I am not going to do an actual number on air, it would be ridiculous to do that, but we have a fairly clear idea where we're going on this," he said.

He called EU claims for Britain to contribute to the bloc's future pension pot as "debatable to say the least".

"The last time we went through line by line and challenged quite a lot of the legal basis of these things, and we'll continue to do that."

British Prime Minister Theresa May on Friday revealed plans for a transition period of about two years after it officially leaves in 2019, during which time Britain would still largely be under current EU rules. - AFP