BRITAIN must pay its bar bill before Brexit, European Parliament chief negotiator Guy Verhofstadt has warned.

Writing in a newspaper yesterday, the politician said he was still hopeful of a good deal between Britain and the EU, but urged Theresa May to take a “dose of reality” and not shy away from the complexities of negotiations.

Relations between London and Brussels were strained last week after details of a disastrous dinner between May and EU commission president Jean-Claude Junker were leaked to a German newspaper.

Reports suggested Junker accused May of being in “another galaxy.”

That followed claims the UK would need to pay £100 billion to Brussels to settle spending obligations that London has already committed to.

In response, May accused the EU of trying to undermine her leadership by interfering in the general election.

In his column, Verhofstadt wrote that this is a period of “phoney war” and insisted the EU has no wish to “punish the UK or demand one more euro than is due.”

Verhofstadt wrote: “As Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, has made clear: Brexit will be punishment enough. Yet, it is only fair that the UK agrees to pay its share of outstanding legal and budgetary commitments and liabilities. It would be wrong for EU taxpayers to be asked to pay Britain’s bar bill.”

He added that it is in the UK’s “reputational interest” to pay the outstanding amount, lest it be seen as a moocher “as it seeks to find a new role for itself in the world.”

Verhofstadt says there may also need to be agreement on a “special status for Northern Ireland”.

“Many Irish citizens residing in Northern Ireland will continue to enjoy rights as EU passport holders, but how will their rights, including the right to vote in European elections, be safeguarded in practice?”

He added: “Soon, the phoney war will be over. I am confident the gulf between the EU and the UK Government can be bridged, but achieving this will require cool heads, a dose of reality, a dash of common sense and an acknowledgement that a failure to reach a deal would not be in the long-term political or economic interests of either side.”

Other priorities for the EU and the UK, he continues, are the rights of EU citizens in the UK, and UK citizens in the EU.

Verhofstadt says he is “hopeful that this could be agreed in the coming months,” but says the UK Government need to be “more honest” about “the complexities at stake”.

Last week, the leaders of the remaining 27 countries in the EU had expressed concern May was not treating their citizens living in the UK fairly.

The Prime Minister believes a deal on rights can be made as soon as next month, but Brussels has long argued this is far more complex than the government seem to be acknowledging.

Peter Hargreaves, a billionaire who donated £3.2 million to the Leave.EU campaign, called on the Prime Minister to reassure EU nationals already in the UK that their current rights would be maintained.

Hargreaves told a newspaper: “People who are doing great jobs in this country are feeling insecure and I think it would be really good for those people to have the comfort that we are not going to boot them out in 18 months’ time. I just think we should make the gesture, full stop.”

Tory minister Jeremy Hunt said EU leaders were “causing problems”.

Asked if they were trying to damage the Tories in the run-up to the election, he said: “That must be the presumption. They should not be doing that.”