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Britain to detail Brexit bill when EU agrees to move talks forward

FILE PHOTO: Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May leaves 10 Downing Street in London, November 1, 2017. REUTERS/Toby Melville /File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May leaves 10 Downing Street in London, November 1, 2017. REUTERS/Toby Melville /File Photo

Thomson Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May will only detail how big a divorce settlement Britain is willing to pay the EU when the bloc gives a commitment to moving talks forward, a plan rubber-stamped by even her most pro-Brexit ministers.

The Brexit bill has become one of several hurdles to talks to unravel more than 40 years of union, with London reticent to offer too much too soon on what officials consider to be one of its strongest bargaining chips.

At a meeting on Monday, May's Brexit committee - made up of some of her top ministers - backed the long-held strategy that Britain will honor commitments made when it was a member of the European Union.

But the government will only offer any specifics when the bloc's negotiators give a commitment that talks will move to a discussion of the future relationship.

"We are ready to move onto phase two, to see those talks about a deep and special partnership with the EU for the future, a comprehensive trade agreement with the EU," May said on Tuesday.

"I think that's in the interests of the UK and in the interests of the remaining EU 27. I think it's also important that the UK and the EU step forward together," she added, a turn of phrase a source said expressed her desire for coordination.

With only 16 months until Britain leaves the bloc, May is under increasing pressure not only from EU officials to move on the money, but also by businesses to hand them certainty by early next year so they can make investment decisions.

But she has a tightrope to walk.

Many in her governing Conservative Party want Britain to quit the talks, feeling the EU is holding the country hostage over money, which they want to spend at home rather than abroad.

Her spokesman said no figures were discussed at Monday's meeting and other ministers gave no details of what was discussed.

Local media reported that she could increase the sum to 40 billion pounds ($53 billion), more than double the initial estimated offer of 20 billion euros ($23.5 billion).

But for many in her own party, the suggestion of any increase in how much Britain will pay at a time when talks had failed to move forward for five months was unpalatable.

"I need to be able to look my voters in the eye and be able to say that I have backed a deal that is in the interests of Britain," Conservative lawmaker Andrew Bridgen told Reuters.

"If I can't do that, I will vote against a deal and we will go to WTO rules of trade, rules with which we already trade with most of the world successfully."

($1 = 0.8520 euros)

($1 = 0.7551 pounds)

(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; editing by John Stonestreet)

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