FOREIGN Secretary Boris Johnson has told European leaders to “go whistle” in the battle over the UK’s bill to leave the EU.

Britain’s top diplomat made the comments in the Commons yesterday, suggesting the Government will not pay what Brussels says the UK owes, reportedly around £50 billion.

Johnson, who once promised to make a “Titanic success” of Brexit, told MPs that despite not agreeing on the very first hurdle of the negotiations, the UK would still secure a deal.

EU leaders have repeatedly said without the divorce bill being paid first there can be no deal.

During Foreign Office questions, Tory Eurosceptic Philip Hollobone asked the minister: “Since we joined the Common Market on January 1 1973 until the day we leave, we will have given the EU and its predecessors, in today’s money, in real terms, a total of £209 billion.

“Will you make it clear to the EU that if they want a penny piece more then they can go whistle?

Johnson replied: “I’m sure that your words will have broken like a thunderclap over Brussels and they will pay attention to what you have said. He makes a very valid point and I think that the sums that I have seen that they propose to demand from this country seem to me to be extortionate and I think ‘to go whistle’ is an entirely appropriate expression.”

Johnson then said the Government had no plan for leaving the EU without a deal as there was no way the Brussels would ever let the UK leave the EU without a deal.

Those comments were in response to Labour’s shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry asking Johnson if he had a “detailed private plan” for Brexiting without a trade deal.

She said: “It is slightly baffling, as it is the Prime Minister, or at least the Prime Minister for now, who decided to put the no deal option on the table and she couldn’t stop using the phrase during the election campaign.

“Now when we ask what it means in practice, they refuse to tell us.”

Johnson said the chances of walking away without a deal were “vanishingly thin”.

He replied: “There is no plan for no deal because we are going to get a great deal and just for the sake of example and illustration, I would remind you that there was a time... when Britain was not in the Common Market.”

SNP Europe spokesman Stephen Gethins questioned the Foreign Secretary on where he believes “there are areas for compromise.”

Johnson replied that he sees “unanimity” in the chamber on the “fundamental issues” on leaving the EU.

Gethins said Johnson’s remarks displayed how “out of touch” the Tories were “with the reality of the impact of Brexit.”

He added: “The Prime Minister should make clear whether she shares the view of her Foreign Secretary or if it’s yet another case of bumbling Boris.

“And she must follow her speeches with action and constructively engage with the devolved administrations over leaving the EU.”

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who is due to meet the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels tomorrow, said if his party were in government then he would “pay what we are legally required to pay.

“We have to negotiate intelligently and sensibly, but above all negotiate with respect and expect to be respected in return,” he added, dismissing Johnson’s comments as “arrogant”.

“I think it is ridiculous for the Foreign Secretary to approach important and serious negotiations with that silly, arrogant language that he so often employs.

“Treat people with respect and there’s a fair chance you will be treated with respect in return.

“If you start on the basis of those silly remarks, what kind of response does he expect to get?”

Meanwhile, Brexit Secretary David Davis has told the Cabinet he will introduce the Repeal Bill, which will incorporate Brussels regulations into UK law, to the Commons tomorrow.

This will start the process of unpicking all the EU legislation, by repealing the 1972 European Communities Act, which took Britain into the EU and meant that European law took precedence over laws passed in the British parliament.

MSPs need to give their consent to the bill, as it directly affect the powers of the Scottish Parliament.

If Holyrood does withhold consent it can’t block Brexit as Whitehall can ignore the decision.

It would, however, create something of a constitutional crisis.