The EU has threatened to ‘shake the tree’ and lure businesses from Britain to the bloc unless Theresa May agrees to pay a huge divorce bill, it has been claimed.
The tough stance comes as UK officials head to Brussels today for Brexit negotiations in a last-ditch effort to move on to trade talks before the end of the year.
But the talks are only scheduled to last two days, and Brexit Secretary David Davis is not arriving in Brussels until tomorrow.
The EU have been dragging their feet and refusing to start trade deal talks in the hope they can squeeze more money out of Britain for the divorce bill.
An EU official said: ‘Some believe that the worse it gets for the British, the better for us …
‘That maybe we could delay it all until, for instance, March, increasing the uncertainty and triggering the contingency plans in the corporate sector.’
Brexit Secretary David Davis, pictured arriving in Downing Street this morning. He has been on a tour of Europe trying to drum up support for Britain’s Brexit position, but Europe is dragging out talks in the hope it can squeeze more money out of Britain in the divorce bill
Meanwhile, Eurocrat Guy Verhofstadt taunted Britain by dismissing Theresa May’s claim we are in ‘touching distance’ of an agreement on citizens rights and moving on to the next phase of talks.
But Italy’s Europe minister Sandro Gozi is more optimistic saying there is a chance Britain could move on to trade talks by the end of the year.
Ambassadors held a meeting ahead of today’s crunch talks to ‘scope out’ options for the next stage of talks and to put pressure on Mrs May to make commitments on the €60 billion (£53 billion) Brexit bill.
A source told The Telegraph: ‘The plain fact is that, as Mr Barnier repeatedly says, ‘the clock is ticking’, and time is not on the British side.
‘The longer the UK waits, the more the pressure will build, the more we shake the tree.’
EU leaders are reportedly preparing for the fall of Mrs May before the New Year after she lost two Cabinet ministers in a week with serious questions over the future of others.
Eurocrat Guy Verhofstadt rejected Britain’s plans to guarantee the rights of EU nationals after Brexit – mocking Theresa May’s claims they are within ‘touching distance’ of a deal (file pic)
And while the PM suffered another blow yesterday when the European Parliament rejected Britain’s plans to guarantee the rights of EU nationals after Brexit.
The Parliament’s Brexit steering group said there ‘are still major issues that have to be resolved’, and insisted that registration must be free, automatic and not include criminal records checks.
But former Tory leader and MP Iain Duncan Smith said Europe is in no position to ‘lecture’ Britain on political stability.
He said: That fact is, I think it is a bit rich of them to speak about this.
‘When you look, the Dutch government after months only just managed to find its own feet; it hadn’t formed a government.
‘Germany still doesn’t have an official government. You have chaos in Italy, elections coming up, real problems over the banks.
‘And in Spain, pretty much arrests taking place on a daily basis of people who wanted to split the country apart. I think it’s a bit rich of the EU to lecture [the UK].
Mr Davis has been on a tour of Europe this week trying to drum up support for Britain’s Brexit case – visiting Poland and Italy on his tour.
Mr Gozi, who met Mr Davis during his visit to Rome earlier this week, said he believed there was a chance of reaching a trade deal within the next year.
Theresa May, pictured leaving No10 last night, is facing questions over her future after she lost two Cabinet ministers in a week. Her party and deputy Damian Green have been engulfed in the Westminster sleaze scandal and her Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is also facing calls to quit after a gaffe which could land a British mother with five more years in an Iranian jail
Mr Gozi told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘I do believe there is a chance. I think there is a chance in December of starting negotiations for a positive trade relationship.
‘I also think that we must start to talk as soon as possible about the transition period, which is very important for the business sector – the UK business sector, but also the EU business sector.’
But Britain faces a race against time to get EU leaders to agree to move on to the next stage of talks.
This is the last round of negotiations before the next summit of EU leaders in December – when they will agree to move on to trade talks or not.
If they refuse to, Britain will have to wait until March before they have another shot at securing an agreement – a year after Article 50 was triggered to kick off the two-year Brexit process.
Meanwhile, the EU Commission has forecast that Britain’s growth will lag behind other EU countries over the next three years.
UK GDP growth for 2017 was downgraded to 1.5 per cent – from 1.8 per cent in the previous forecast in the spring.
The prediction for 2018 unchanged at 1.3 per cent and a gloomier 1.1 per cent for 2019, when Britain is due formally to leave the EU.
The commission predicted the eurozone will grow by 2.2 per cent this year, 2.1 per cent next year and 1.9 percent in 2019.