Brussels must pay its own Brexit bill of billions of pounds for Britain's share of the European Investment Bank and other joint projects, Theresa May has indicated.

The Prime Minister says in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph that “money paid in the past” by the UK must be taken into account in the final divorce bill.

She insisted that the UK has financial “rights” that must be respected during discussions about payments as well as “obligations” to the body it is leaving.

The intervention is a clear rejection of hardline EU countries who have argued that the UK should not get back its proportion of EU assets.

Reports from Brussels have claimed Brexit negotiators want anything between €60 and €100 when the UK leaves to cover EU payments already agreed.