UK won't pay divorce bill without trade deal: Raab

The UK will not pay its £39 billion divorce bill to Brussels if the bloc does not agree the framework for a future trade deal, warns the new Brexit secretary.

According to Press TV, Dominic Raab gave the warning in an interview published Sunday, calling for "some conditionality between the two."

Raab, who replaced David Davis after he resigned earlier this month in protest over the government's Brexit strategy, added the Article 50 mechanism used to trigger Britain's imminent exit from the EU provided for new deal details.

"Article 50 requires, as we negotiate the withdrawal agreement, that there's a future framework for our new relationship going forward, so the two are linked," Raab told the Sunday Telegraph.

"You can't have one side fulfilling its side of the bargain and the other side not, or going slow, or failing to commit on its side.

"So I think we do need to make sure that there's some conditionality between the two."

Asked whether he would put such a provision into legislation, Raab said it must go “into the arrangements we have at international level with our EU partners. We need to make it clear that the two are linked.”

So far, the government of Theresa May has sent mixed signals on the divorce bill. May agreed in December to a financial settlement worth $46-51 billion with ministers saying it depended on agreeing future trade ties.

Cabinet members, however, have since cast doubt on the position.

In response to the warning, Finance Minister Philip Hammond said it was "inconceivable" Britain would not pay its bill.

“That is not a credible scenario. That is not the kind of country we are. Frankly it would not make us a credible partner for future international agreements.”

Raab said that critics are wrong to assume that May would not walk away without a deal if she had to.

“They’re wrong. No bluffing,” he said. “The ball is now in the EU’s court, and don’t get me wrong, there will be plenty more negotiations, I’ve made that clear. But if they show us the same level of ambition, energy, pragmatism, this deal gets done in 12 weeks.”

The UK is due to leave the EU at the end of March 2019, but the two sides have yet to agree how their final trading relationship will work.

ME