The UK could refuse to pay its £39 billion divorce bill to Brussels if it does not get a trade deal, Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab has signalled.
Mr Raab said there had to be "conditionality" under the Article 50 withdrawal mechanism between settling Britain's exit payment and creating a new relationship with the EU.
He told the Sunday Telegraph: "Article 50 requires, as we negotiate the withdrawal agreement, that there's a future framework for our new relationship going forward, so the two are linked.
"You can't have one side fulfilling its side of the bargain and the other side not, or going slow, or failing to commit on its side.
"So, I think we do need to make sure that there's some conditionality between the two."
Pressed on whether he would put such a provision into legislation, Mr Raab said: "Certainly it needs to go into the arrangements we have at international level with our EU partners. We need to make it clear that the two are linked."
The comments appeared at odds with Chancellor Philip Hammond, who said of the divorce payment last December: "I find it inconceivable that we as a nation would be walking away from an obligation that we recognised as an obligation.
"That is not a credible scenario. That is not the kind of country we are. Frankly, it would not make us a credible partner for future international agreements."
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Mr Raab has defended the controversial Chequers Cabinet compromise on withdrawal aims, insisting he wanted to persuade voters and Cabinet colleagues that it is the way forward.
The Brexit Secretary said: "I want to make sure we can persuade everyone - grassroots, voters, parliamentary party and ministers, including in the Cabinet - that we've got the best deal and the best plan to get the best deal."
The Brexit Secretary said critics were mistaken to think British Prime Minister Theresa May would not walk away without a deal if she had to.
"They're wrong. No bluffing," he said.
"The ball is now in the EU's court, and don't get me wrong, there will be plenty more negotiations, I've made that clear, but if they show us the same level of ambition, energy, pragmatism, this deal gets done in 12 weeks."
Mr Rabb also accused the EU of "irresponsibly" ramping-up pressure in withdrawal negotiations.
Asked about comments from Brussels that a no deal scenario would mean there would be no specific arrangements in place for UK citizens living on the continent, or for EU migrants in Britain, Mr Raab told BBC1's The Andrew Marr Show: "Well, I think that's a rather irresponsible thing to be coming from the other side.
"We ought to be trying to reassure citizens on the Continent and also here.
"There is obviously an attempt to try and ramp-up the pressure."
Meanwhile David Davis, who quit as Brexit secretary in protest at the Chequers agreement, told the Sunday Express that the PM needed to "start again" on withdrawal plans.
The comments came as a new poll suggests only 16% of voters think Mrs May is handling negotiations well, while 34% believe former foreign secretary Boris Johnson would do a better job.
And 38% of people would vote for a new party on the right that was committed to Brexit, while 24% are ready to support an explicitly far right anti-immigrant, anti-Islam party, according to the You Gov survey for The Sunday Times.
The poll found that one in three voters are prepared to back a new anti-Brexit centrist party.
A Fine Gael Senator has said that comments by Mr Raab threatening not to pay the £39 billion divorce bill are disappointing and misleading.
Fine Gael Seanad spokesperson on Brexit Neale Richmond said that when Britain signs the Withdrawal Agreement, it will be bound to make the payments.
He said they were not settlement payments but were instead continuing payments to the EU budget until 2020, and they were monies Britain would get a return on in terms of CAP payments to farmers, research grants to scientists and salaries and pensions of those working in the EU.
Mr Richmond said the figure had previously been agreed last October after much wrangling.
He said he sincerely hoped Mr Raab was not trying to reverse what had been agreed and he said Mr Raab was clearly laying down a marker to his own backbenchers by trying to appear firm.
Additional reporting: Sandra Hurley
