Theresa May accuses EU of trying to influence UK election

Theresa May has accused figures in the European Union of trying to influence the outcome of next month's general election by making threats against Britain and using leaks to misrepresent her approach to Brexit.

Speaking outside Downing Street following the dissolution of parliament and the formal start of the campaign, she said that some elements in the European Union wanted the Brexit negotiations to fail.

"Britain's negotiating position in Europe has been misrepresented in the continental press. The European Commission's negotiating stance has hardened. Threats against Britain have been issued by European politicians and officials. All of these acts have been deliberately timed to affect the result of the general election," she said.

Earlier this week, a German newspaper published a detailed, damning account of a private dinner the prime minister hosted in London for European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker. She said on Wednesday that she had made clear in her letter triggering article 50 at the end of March that Britain means no harm to its EU neighbours.

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“We continue to believe that no deal is better for Britain than a bad deal. But we want a deal. We want a deep and special partnership with the European Union. And we want the EU to succeed. But the events of the last few days have shown that – whatever our wishes, and however reasonable the positions of Europe’s other leaders – there are some in Brussels who do not want these talks to succeed. Who do not want Britain to prosper,” she said.

Consequences

Ms May was speaking hours after the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier published details of how the EU wants to conduct the negotiations, based on guidelines approved by EU leaders last week. Mr Barnier warned that nobody should be under the illusion that the negotiations could be concluded easily or quickly, adding that Brexit would have an impact on people's lives both in the UK and the EU.

“There will be consequences. Those who pretend – or who did pretend – that you can leave the EU and there are no consequences simply aren’t telling the truth. There are human consequences, there are social consequences, there are economic consequences, there are technical consequences, financial, legal consequences. You are unwinding 43 years or so of a relationship,” he said.

Mr Barnier said there could be “explosive” consequences if Britain sought to avoid paying what it owed before leaving the EU. But he insisted that there was no attempt to punish Britain and that characterising the financial settlement as a “Brexit bill” was a mistake.

He said the European Court of Justice (ECJ) should adjudicate the rights of EU citizens in the UK after Brexit, suggesting that these rights should extend for the rest of those citizens’ lives and include the right to have family members join them.

The prime minister made clear outside Downing Street that she would use the leak about her dinner with Mr Juncker and tough rhetoric from Brussels to reinforce the argument that only she can provide the leadership Britain needs during the forthcoming negotiations.

Political parties will watch local elections across England, Scotland and Wales on Thursday for signs of the public mood ahead of next month’s general election.

All council seats in Scotland and Wales are up for election, along with seats in 34 councils in England. Six areas of England will elect newly created mayors, and there will be a parliamentary election in Manchester Gorton caused by the death of Labour MP Gerald Kaufman.

Labour and Ukip are expected to lose seats, with the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats hoping to make gains but election analysts warn against reading the results as an accurate guide to the likely outcome of the general election.