Britain and European Union at loggerheads on financial services

Britain and Brussels are divided over access to financial markets after Brexit.

UK Finance Minister Sajid Javid said Tuesday he wanted a stable financial relationship for decades to come...only to get an instant knock-back from EU officials.

Britain left the EU last month, and its powerful financial services firms will lose privileged access to EU customers from next January.

Only in sub-sectors where rules are deemed 'equivalent' will an exception be made - but Javid said equivalence should apply to the whole financial services industry.

Arguing in a London financial paper its rules are as tough as the EU's.

Michel Barnier, the European Union's chief Brexit negotiator, said Britain should be under 'no such illusion'.