Germany wants the City to pay for post-Brexit single market access

The UK could be forced to pay the EU for City firms to maintain single market access to the Continent after Brexit.

Germany is behind the plan, Bloomberg reports, with officials from two departments in Berlin saying they expected the UK to make substantial payments, as well as adhering to EU law.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has been pushing a hard-line stance against allowing a bespoke deal, which Theresa May, Brexit secretary David Davis and chancellor Philip Hammond have been seeking. Hammond last night told a Berlin dinner to stop trying to punish the UK for its decision and start making it clear what the country wants from a post-Brexit trade deal.

When asked about the prospect of paying for access yesterday, he did not reject the possibility, saying: “We will talk about all of these things.”

EU budget commissioner Guenther Oettinger told reporters in Brussels on Wednesday that any payments after transition were a matter for the negotiations but suggested “the UK could reflect upon” how Switzerland pays to participate in certain European projects.