UK leader meeting top EU officials for Brexit working dinner

LONDON – Britain’s prime minister is taking time out from her election campaign to meet the European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator and head of the bloc’s executive.

Theresa May is due to hold a working dinner Wednesday at 10 Downing St. with negotiator Michel Barnier and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

May called a snap June 8 election last week, urging voters to give her Conservatives a bigger parliamentary majority to strengthen Britain’s hand in EU exit negotiations.

Leaders of the 27 other EU countries are due to discuss their negotiating guidelines at a summit in Brussels on Saturday.

Negotiations between Britain and the bloc are due to start after the U.K. election, with the size of the divorce bill facing Britain one of the first items on the agenda.