EU flag. Image: Rock Cohen via Flickr (CC 2.0) 

The UK faces a ‘very hefty’ bill for Brexit according to European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker.

In a speech to the Belgian Federal Parliament, he said;

The British people have to know, they know already, that it will not be at a discount or at zero cost. The British must respect commitments they were involved in making. So the bill will be, to put it a bit crudely, very hefty.

Reports suggest that the UK could be forced to pay upwards of £50 billion to Europe on leaving.

Juncker thinks Britain is going to carry on being the mug. Let’s put that to a stop and look after the British taxpayer. pic.twitter.com/P9b56BIqQA

— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) 22 February 2017

Mr Juncker also said that any talks around a new trade deal with the EU would take much longer than the two years Theresa May is promising.

Prime Minister Theresa May is planning to trigger Article 50 by the end of March that will start a period of two years of negotiations.

The House of Lords is today holding a second day of debate around her government’s European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill, which, if passed will give her the go-ahead.

Mrs May has previously warned the EU that to ‘punish’ the UK for Brexit would be ‘an act of calamitous self-harm.’

Earlier this month, the House of Commons overwhelmingly backed the EU Bill and the government has said the Lords must not ‘frustrate’ its passage into law.