BRITAIN and the European Union can find a “proper way” to seal the Brexit deal, Jean-Pierre Jouyet, France’s new ambassador to the UK, has insisted, as Boris Johnson said the country’s improved financial offer to Brussels should "get the ship off the rocks" and lead to trade talks.

Diplomatic sources have suggested Theresa May has signalled Britain will honour liabilities put at 100 billion euros, although, through negotiation, UK ministers hope to get this down to below half this amount due to deductions for items such as the UK rebate and Britain's share of the European Investment Bank.

Plus any figure of round 45bn euros for staff pensions, loans and infrastructure projects would be paid over a number of years, possibly decades.

Downing Street declined to confirm any numbers and the Prime Minister, making her first trip to Iraq, denied a firm "divorce bill" had been agreed, saying Britain was "still in negotiations" with the EU and that "nothing is agreed until everything is agreed".

READ MORE: French ambassador Jean-Pierre Jouyet says Brexit is "not a good thing" for UK or EU

Mr Jouyet, a former head of the French Treasury - in Scotland for the opening of an expanded French consulate and institute in Edinburgh’s Royal Mile - told The Herald in an exclusive interview: “It’s not up to me to tell you as the French ambassador in the UK…but I have never seen in my professional life a budgetary issue which cannot be solved.”

He confirmed that on the issue of citizens’ rights the two sides were “very close” to agreement; yet the third issue, the Irish border, remains the most intractable.

However, Government insiders look increasingly confident that there will be a positive development when Mrs May sits down to lunch with Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission President, in Brussels on Monday, leading to a breakthrough at the European Council days later.

The Foreign Secretary, speaking at the EU-African Union summit, said: “We’re hoping very much the offer the Prime Minister is able to make at that council will be one that guarantees sufficient progress. Now’s the time to get the ship off the rocks.”

Chris Grayling, the Transport Secretary, defended the proposed settlement as the price of “trading freely” with the bloc’s remaining members.

But in the Commons, Mrs May faced a backlash from some Conservative Eurosceptics with backbencher Peter Bone warning it would be "betraying the trust of the British people" to hand over billions to Brussels rather than spending it on the NHS, social care and defence.

READ MORE: French ambassador Jean-Pierre Jouyet says Brexit is "not a good thing" for UK or EU

His Tory colleague Jacob Rees-Mogg said there was "growing concern Her Majesty's Government seems in these negotiations to be dancing to the tune of the European Commission".

Iain Duncan Smith, the former party leader, claimed even a divorce bill over £40bn would be "a good bargain" because the UK would save "staggering amounts of money" on contributions to the EU budgets over the long term.

But Nigel Farage, Ukip's former leader, denounced the reported settlement as a "sell-out", telling the European Parliament that "Christmas has come early" for Brussels' budget commissioner.

In stark contrast, Mr Jouyet appeared upbeat and even suggested if, for whatever reason, the EU27 did not give the go-ahead for talks to move on, it would not be fatal to the Brexit process.

“We follow very closely Michel Barnier[the EU’s chief negotiator], we follow very closely the negotiations in Brussels, and if I remember well he said last week there are some improving negotiations. So we will see in December. But the December summit is not the end of the day,” noted the 63-year-old career civil servant.

A seasoned mandarin, who has served four presidents – Chirac, Sarkozy, Hollande and Macron – but who regards himself as a “centrist,” admitted to being shocked by last year’s EU referendum result, describing the outcome as “incredible” and that he was now trying to understand the thinking of the Brexiteers.

“I know Leave is Leave and now we work on that but it’s not a good thing for the UK nor for Europe nor for Scotland,” he declared.

Noting how referendums could be a “very dangerous tool” given the public often did not vote in relation to the question put, Mr Jouyet was asked if, despite all the Brexit turbulence, a deal could be done. “We can find a proper way,” he declared.

READ MORE: French ambassador Jean-Pierre Jouyet says Brexit is "not a good thing" for UK or EU

In Berlin, Mr Barnier also sounded a more optimistic note, saying: "We are working really hard on these subjects and I just wish and hope that, when the European Council meets in a few days' time, I can report that we have negotiated that deal and we have reached a very important step in our relationship.

"If we find that very important agreement in the next few days, we are expecting that in 2018 the European Council will set a new framework for this new partnership with the UK," he added.