When Theresa May secured agreement from the EU to move on to transition and trade talks, it was the Irish border that represented the final stumbling block. But for most of the period between the referendum and “sufficient progress” being declared, the thorniest question was how big Britain’s so-called divorce bill should be. Initially, the idea that the UK should have to pay to leave the bloc was met with derision by some Brexiteers, who argued that members do not typically have to pay to leave a club. From the EU’s perspective, getting the money, which covers pension liabilities, infrastructure costs, funds committed to multiyear projects and much more, was a political necessity to demonstrate that leaving the EU would have consequences, but also to…

Source: The Times December 13, 2017 17:15 UTC