BRITAIN is winning the Brexit negotiations and personal attacks by Brussels simply prove the EU “doesn’t like it up them”, say Government insiders.
Brexit minister David Davis’s team has been “emboldened” by Jean-Claude Juncker’s jibes because they prove the EU is “losing all the arguments”.
Meanwhile, leading Brexiteers including Tory Jacob Rees-Mogg said demands for the UK to pay a multi-billion pound “divorce” bill would fall on deaf ears because no money could be paid without the backing of MPs.
Those from Leave constituencies are unlikely to support anything deemed “excessive”.
One source said: “The fact that the EU’s rhetoric has gone up proves that they don’t like it up them. There would be far more concern if EU negotiator Michel Barnier and his team were happy with how it was all going. The EU seemed to think this great British pussycat would just roll over.
“Just because the rhetoric has got a little spicy doesn’t mean that the negotiations have collapsed – far from it.”
Another senior source said: “Contrary to all the skewed coverage, EU negotiators appeared impressed, if a little taken aback, by the British team’s in-depth knowledge of the UK’s legal obligations. From our perspective, the negotiations are going well.”
European Commission president Mr Juncker last week launched an extraordinary attack on Mr Davis, suggesting he was “lazy” and “unstable”.
It came after Mr Barnier questioned Mr Davis’s approach, suggesting he did not appear to view the negotiations as a “priority”. The comments, which were made at an EU meeting after the first round of Brexit talks, were the latest in a string of insults apparently designed to destabilise the UK team.