AKIPRESS.COM - The UK will not enter into "a briefing war" with the European Commission over Brexit talks, Tory sources have said.

It follows reports in a German paper of repeated clashes between Theresa May and Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker at a Downing Street dinner, BBC reported.

EU sources claimed UK misunderstanding of the talks process, and ignorance about how Brussels works, could lead to no deal being agreed on the UK's exit.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said the reports were "tittle-tattle".

She said the emergence of the reports was "not the right way" of negotiating, but the UK was committed to negotiating in "good faith".

According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine, the prime minister and Mr Juncker reportedly clashed over Mrs May's desire to make Brexit "a success" and whether the issue of protecting the rights of expat UK and EU nationals could be agreed as early as June.

The newspaper claimed Mr Juncker said: "I leave... 10 times more sceptical than I was before."

In a speech later on Tuesday, Mrs May - who has dismissed the account as "Brussels gossip" - will cite the need to stand up to the other 27 EU countries.

"We have seen in recent days, it will not be easy," she will say. "The negotiations ahead will be tough. Across the table from us sit 27 European member states who are united in their determination to do a deal that works for them."