David Davis rebuts Emmanuel Macron over Brexit 'open door' on eve of talks

David Davis, the Brexit Secretary
David Davis, the Brexit Secretary Credit:  REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File photo

David Davis has told EU leaders they should be in “no doubt” that Britain is heading for the exit door as formal Brexit talks finally begin. 

In a statement issued before his Brussels trip tomorrow, the Brexit Secretary promised the “historic referendum result” will be “delivered” by Theresa May’s Government. 

The comments are designed as a direct rebuttal to Emmanuel Macron, the French President who said this week the “door remains open” for Britain to stay in the EU. 

They will also act to calm fresh doubts about the path to delivering Brexit after Mrs May failed to win the increased majority she wanted in the snap election.

Mr Davis and his officials will meet with Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator who is his opposite number, and his team on Monday to start formal talks.

The meeting - which comes almost a year after the country vote by 52 per cent to 48 per cent to leave the EU - has been in the diary for months.

Mrs May attempted to use it during the campaign to warn voters off picking Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, by saying negotiations start just 11 days after the election. 

Mr Davis said: "As I head to Brussels to open official talks to leave the EU, there should be no doubt — we are leaving the European Union, and delivering on that historic referendum result.

"Now, the hard work begins. We must secure a deal that works for all parts of the United Kingdom, and enables us to become a truly global Britain.

"Leaving gives us the opportunity to forge a bright new future for the UK — one where we are free to control our borders, pass our own laws and do what independent sovereign countries do."

Mr Davis said that there had been a “huge amount of work across Whitehall to prepare for these talks” and insisted the UK would not “turn out backs to Europe”. 

He added: "These talks will be difficult at points, but we will be approaching them in a constructive way.”

The meeting comes after tetchy opening exchanges between the two sides last week.

It began when the European Commission briefed journalists that the UK had caved in to demands for the so-called ‘Brexit bill’ to be approved before discussing any future relationship.

Mr Davis’s aides were forced to issue a statement denying the claims, pointing out that the EU’s own mantra was that “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed”.

In practice, UK sources say there is no prospect of Britain signing any cheques until the details of the future EU-UK relationship and transitional arrangements are worked out.

“The games really need to stop,” said one UK official closely involved in the talks. “You would think the EU learned their lesson over the leaking of the Juncker dinner, but they seem unable to help themselves spinning and briefing totally unrealistic positions. It achieves nothing.”

British negotiators have now claimed that the Commission’s recent statement that Ireland should be a priority issue in the early talks is a victory for their approach. 

"They wanted to keep back more Northern Ireland issues for later in the talk," said a source. 

"The Prime Minister has always been clear that this was an early priority from the start, so we've had to make this a 'red line' issue for us in preparing this negotiation."

Tomorrow’s meeting, which includes a press conference with Mr Davis and Mr Barnier, has been dubbed “talks about talks” because process will dominate. 

EU sources have said they do not expect substantive negotiations to begin until mid-July. British sources say the date remains up for discussion.

Whenever that times comes, the first issue on the agenda will be agreeing the rights of some 4.5m citizens on both sides of the Channel.

Mr Davis has promised to make a “generous offer”, although it is expected to fall short of expansive EU demands in some areas. 

In particular, Britain will refuse to accept the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice over any agreement - a key red line for the UK and arguably the trickiest area of the negotiations.

Negotiators also need to bridge the gap on a financial settlement, with reports suggesting the EU bottom line is set at around €40bn euros - about €10bn more than Britain’s upper estimate of its liabilities to the EU according to British sources.

If talks do not break down, both sides hope that they can agree that “sufficient progress” has been made the citizens, money and Northern Ireland dossiers in order to progress onto substantive talks on the future EU-UK relationship as early as this October.

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