Hammond dismisses EU condition as a 'negotiating position'

Baden-Baden, Germany

UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond dismissed suggestions that the European Union would refuse to start trade talks until Britain had agreed to settle its Brexit bill as a "negotiating position", saying he didn't recognise the amounts suggested that Britain may owe the bloc.

Mr Hammond reiterated that Britain would honour its legal liabilities, but suggested that totals being discussed by the European Commission were deliberately inflated by including contributions the UK would make while it was still a member of the EU over the next two years. The bill to settle the UK's liabilities is estimated as high as 60 billion euros (S$90.45 billion).

"When you're going to a negotiation what you do is overstate your position, draw harder than they need to be your red lines as a starting point," he told reporters at the G-20 finance ministers' meeting in Baden-Baden, Germany. "We don't recognise the sort of numbers that are…