Brexit minister David Davis made £1,000 by betting on UK leaving EU

'So I put some money on, and it's still paying my office's drinks bill'

(Getty)

Brexit Secretary David Davis has said he made £1,000 by betting on the UK leaving the European Union.

Mr Davis joked that the money was still paying drinks bills at his Department for Exiting the EU.

He was being questioned about a poll which suggested voters did not trust the so-called "three Brexiteers" - Mr Davis, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and International Trade Secretary Liam Fox.

Mr Davis told LBC radio: "Polls are not that reliable.

"I was in this studio on referendum day with Iain Dale, referendum night, and the polls at that point were telling us there's going to be a 10-point advantage to Remain.

"So I put some money on, and it's still paying my office's drinks bills.

"I made a grand."

Earlier, the Brexit minister admitted Britain may not have fully freed itself from all European Union rules until 2021.

Mr Davis said he was "very determined' to agree a divorce deal with Brussels and a new trading relationship within the two-year negotiating process set out by Article 50 of the EU treaties.

One of the first stages of the negotiation, which Theresa May has promised to begin by April, will be to sign the EU up to the UK's proposed timetable, he said.

But on Tuesday, the Prime Minister acknowledged in a major speech there may have to be an "implementation period" to allow for adjustment to new post-Brexit rules after they are agreed, which Mr Davis said could take a further two years.

He insisted Britain is not "supplicant" to any EU insistence that the timetable should be longer and would be seeking to conclude a deal in two years before the implementation phase begins.

On BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he went on: "At the end of two years, we will have our deals, what may take a little longer is implementation.

"I don't know, whether it's customs arrangements or it's a time for companies to accommodate things, or whether it's border arrangements, or some other elements.

"And we've said we accept that there may be an implementation phase thereafter.

"It won't be a long time...a year or two."

Mrs May confirmed she wants to take Britain out of the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice and restore control over immigration.

She gave her strongest hint yet that the UK could leave the European customs union (CU), stating she wanted to ensure "frictionless" cross-border trade.

But she said she had an "open mind" on whether that should be done through associate membership or a completely new customs agreement.

Declaring "no deal for Britain is better than a bad deal for Britain", Mrs May repeated Chancellor Philip Hammond's warning that if Europe is refused easy access to the single market, the UK could "change the basis of (its) economic model".

That could mean Britain effectively becoming a low-tax, low-regulation haven like Singapore off the shore of Europe, competing for business and investment with its former partners.

European Council president Donald Tusk said the remaining 27 members were "united and ready to negotiate" while the European parliament's chief negotiator, Guy Verhofstadt, said the "days of UK cherry-picking and Europe a la carte are over".

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn warned she would turn the UK into a "low corporate taxation, bargain basement economy" if the EU did not give her everything she wanted.

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said: "Theresa May has confirmed Britain is heading for a hard Brexit.

"She claimed people voted to leave the single market. They didn't. She has made the choice to do massive damage to the British economy."

Press Association