I WOULD have loved to have seen the faces of EU civil servants when David Davis told them that British taxpayers would expect nothing less than a forensic examination of their claim for compensation for Britain’s Brexit.

Here is an organisation turning over hundreds of billions of euros a year that has not produced a set of meaningful accounts for years.

Yet Jean-Claude Juncker and Michel Barnier strut around booted and suited as though attending an auditor’s convention.

It is not in fact they or their acolytes who will make the big decisions, it is the CEOs of companies like BMW, Volkswagen, Mercedes, Citroen and Renault.

Look at the cars in every street, look at the food in your local supermarket.

In its current parlous state, the last thing the EU can afford is a trade war.

It is time for less bluff and bluster, time for reality.

The days of the EU balancing the books by emulating Oliver Twist and asking the countries of northern Europe for more are over.

It’s time for a reality check.

Geoffrey Searstone, Moor Lane, York