Brexit wrangling begins

Britain sought to downplay a row over future security ties with the EU yesterday, as London and Brussels drew up the first battle lines at the start of their two-year divorce.

France and Germany also put up a common front against Prime Minister Theresa May's call to negotiate the exit and the new relationship at the same time, setting up a major stumbling block before negotiations even begin.

But a day after May formally notified the EU of Britain's intention to leave, it was her warning that failure to clinch a deal on trade would weaken the fight against terrorism that rankled.

"It's not a threat," Brexit minister David Davis told BBC radio after warnings from Brussels against using security as a bargaining chip in the talks.

He said the "simple truth" was that without a "parallel deal" with the EU, Britain would no longer be a member of the Europol crime-fighting agency or take part in the European Arrest Warrant system.

Interior minister Amber Rudd said: "If we left Europol, then we would take our information... with us".

Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator, hit back saying that "citizens' security was far too serious a subject" to be held hostage to negotiations.

French President Francois Hollande yesterday followed German Chancellor Angela Merkel in snubbing May's proposed structure for the negotiations, saying the exit agreement should come first.

"First we must begin discussions on the modalities of the withdrawal, especially on the rights of citizens and the obligations arising from the commitments that the United Kingdom has made," Hollande said.

The fate of three million EU citizens living in Britain and one million British people within the bloc's nations is at the top of leaders' agenda.

Also looming large is the so-called "exit bill" Britain will have to pay, estimated to be as much as 60 billion euros ($64 billion, £52 billion).