‘Disastrous dinner’ row between Theresa May and EU over Brexit will help Tories win the election, claims David Davis

'I don’t suppose the British public at large has been terribly impressed by the operations of the last week'

The furious row over the disastrous dinner between Theresa May and the EU over Brexit will help the Tories win the election, David Davis has claimed.

The Brexit Secretary said voters would not be “terribly impressed” by Brussels leaking brutal details of last week’s talks – and accusing the Prime Minister of living in a “parallel reality”.

Ms May has already exploited the row by warning Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission's president, that he will soon discover her reputation as a “bloody difficult woman”.

Criticising the leak, Mr Davis told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I don’t suppose the British public at large has been terribly impressed by the operations of the last week.

“They will have seen very very clearly that they need a good tough negotiator. That is what Theresa May is and will be, if we win the election.”

The comment came as the Brexit Secretary poured scorn on a suggestion that the EU would prevent Ms May from leading the intensive Brexit negotiations.

Mr Davis also rejected claims that the so-called ‘divorce bill’ – which the EU is demanding Britain agrees to pay, before trade talks can begin – could be as high as 100bn euros (£84.5bn).

And he admitted the 3m EU citizens in the UK are “suffering anxiety”, despite the Government rejecting widespread calls to guarantee their rights upfront.

At Number 10 last week, Mr Juncker is said to have made clear to Ms May that, unless she accepted the EU’s ‘red lines’, there was no point in even beginning the withdrawal talks.

His last words to the Prime Minister as he left were: “I'm leaving Downing Street ten times more sceptical than I was before,” according to the leak.

Today, the Times reported that senior figures in Brussels have made clear Ms May will not be allowed to negotiate exit terms with her fellow EU leaders, as she has insisted.

The only person conducting the talks will be the European Commission's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, with Mr Davis himself expected to fill the British seat.

The EU wants a full week of talks to be conducted each month, a timetable far too intensive for the Prime Minister to commit herself to, it believes.

But Mr Davis told Good Morning Britain: “The idea that somehow one side of the negotiation can dictate how the other side runs a negotiation is laughable.

"She will be leading negotiations, I will be supporting her.

“This is an exercise in trying to shape public opinion and trying to pressurise us - it won't work.”

The Brexit Secretary also denied both the inflated size of the divorce bill and that the EU would be able to lay down that the European Court of Justice would enforce it.

“This morning, you see demands for 100bn euros. It’s gone from 50 to 60 to 100,” he protested. “I don’t think that’s where we will end up, I know that’s not where we all end up.”

Mr Davis insisted the status of ex-pats could be “resolved quickly,”, admitting: “They are suffering anxiety while there is uncertainty.

“It is the intention that they will have a generous settlement, pretty much exactly what they enjoy now – and that our British citizens abroad will do the same.”

However, the EU side fears Britain has no grasp of the complexity of the issue surrounding EU citizens, particularly their future healthcare rights.