European Union leaders have unanimously agreed the negotiating guidelines for Brexit talks with UK will be “firm and fair,” and will begin on June 8th after the UK general election. As The BBC reports, EU officials said leaders burst into applause as the negotiating stance was waved through, with the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, proudly proclaiming: “we are ready… we are together.”

“Unity in action,” European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Twitter as he announced the 27 EU governments – UK PM Theresa May was not present – rubber-stamped the negotiating strategy in less than 15 minutes at a summit in Brussels.

Policy makers arrived declaring that they were united in their approach to Brexit and that Britain wouldn’t be allowed to be better off outside the bloc than inside it. Prime Minister Theresa May’s government was told it will have to agree to pay a financial settlement and resolve the rights of citizens before the EU allows discussions to turn to a future trade deal.

French President Francois Hollande said there would inevitably be “a price and a cost for the UK – it’s the choice that was made”.

“We must not be punitive, but at the same time it’s clear that Europe knows how to defend its interests, and that Britain the UK will have a less good position tomorrow outside the EU than today in the EU.”

Which is very ironic given AFP reported German Chancellor Merkel earlier commented: “no one is allied against Britain.”

The UK response was quick – Brexit Secretary David Davis emailed that:

“There is no doubt that these negotiations are the most complex the U.K. has faced in our lifetimes. They will be tough and, at times even confrontational,”

And, as Bloomberg reports, to Iain Duncan Smith, a former leader of May’s Conservative Party who campaigned for Brexit, Europe’s approach is nothing more than posturing anyway: