BRITAIN has capitulated to EU demands – and now Brexit talks due to start on Monday will be on Brussels’ terms.

Though they have denied it, David Davis and colleagues in the Tory cabinet seemingly agreed to sort of the Brexit divorce settlement before moving on to trade issues.

This had long been an obstacle between what the UK and the EU wanted. Davis had at one point warned it would be the “row of the summer”.

Whitehall believed they could negotiate a future trade deal while also working through the three strands of the divorce, namely the settling of the UK’s debts with the EU, the rights of EU citizens living in the UK and UK citizens living in the EU, and the Irish border.

The other 27 countries who make up the EU have always said no to that and that the past needs to be sorted out before the future.

Yesterday, as the agenda for the first day of negotiations was made clear, it became obvious the EU has won the timetabling argument.

The talks “will focus on issues related to citizens’ rights, the financial settlement, the Northern Irish border and other separation issues, as part of the sequenced approach to the talks,” the European Commission said in a press release Friday, adding that “both sides will also discuss the structure of the negotiations and the issues that need to be addressed over the coming months.”

However, a spokesman for Davis’s Brexit department stressed that the UK’s position had remained the same: “We have been crystal clear about our approach to these negotiations,” said the spokesman.

“As we set out in the Article 50 letter, our view is that withdrawal agreement and terms of the future relationship must be agreed alongside each other. We are clear this is what is set out in Article 50.

“We believe that the withdrawal process cannot be concluded without the future relationship also being taken into account.

“As the EU has itself said, ‘nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.’”

One EU diplomat told the Politico website: “It is indeed our understanding that the agenda of the first negotiation round consists of issues related to the first phase of negotiations, which means citizens, money, Northern Ireland and some other exit-related questions.

“So this would imply that the UK understands the sequencing.”

The agenda for the opening day of talks begins at 11 am with an introductory session involving Europe’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, and Davis. It is followed by a working lunch and an afternoon session consisting of working groups and other meetings before a press conference at around 6.30 p.m.

Nicola Sturgeon took to Twitter to point out that this was all happening before May had managed to secure any agreement with the DUP to prop up her fledgling minority government.

“It is beyond belief that UK gov intends to blunder into this vitally important negotiation with no clear mandate or consensus for its plan,” the First Minister tweeted.

DUP leader Arlene Foster says her party are “ready to dance” but are just waiting for May to make them an offer. The former First Minister of the still-suspended Northern Ireland Assembly was speaking after talks with new Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

Foster was asked if she expected a deal between her 10 MPs and the Tories before the Queen’s speech next week. She replied: “It akes two to tango and we’re ready to dance.”

The monarch was due to set out the Government’s agenda next Monday, but May has changed the Queen’s diary and asked her to come to Parliament on Wednesday instead. On Thursday Foster’s deputy Nigel Dodds said there was no deadline between the DUP and the Tories and that the Queen’s speech was “not relevant” to their negotiations.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is planning to set out his party’s own programme for government and will urge all other parties to back it in an attempt to topple May and form a minority administration.