Lawmakers Lash Out at Brexit Bill

U.K. lawmakers in Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative party hit back at claims from Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern that Britain will be charged 60 billion euros ($63 billion) to leave the European Union as tensions surge ahead of Brexit talks.

In a Bloomberg interview on Thursday, Kern became the first EU leader to put a value on the size of the U.K.’s Brexit bill. While May’s office was muted in its public comments, Kern’s warning that there would be “no free lunch” for the U.K. sparked a furious response from senior members of Parliament.

“This figure is a nonsense that’s been conjured up by EU officials who are behaving like children,” former cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith said in an interview. “For the Austrian chancellor to even refer to it is quite absurd. As for saying there’s going to be no free lunch for Britain, we paid so much into the EU budget over the years, we pretty much bought the damned restaurant.”

Bloomberg

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Former Craig

Former Craig

Former Senior Market Analyst, UK & EMEA at OANDA
Based in London, Craig Erlam joined OANDA in 2015 as a market analyst. With many years of experience as a financial market analyst and trader, he focuses on both fundamental and technical analysis while producing macroeconomic commentary. His views have been published in the Financial Times, Reuters, The Telegraph and the International Business Times, and he also appears as a regular guest commentator on the BBC, Bloomberg TV, FOX Business and SKY News. Craig holds a full membership to the Society of Technical Analysts and is recognised as a Certified Financial Technician by the International Federation of Technical Analysts.