Friday, July 09, 2021
The real cost of Brexit revealed
The Irish news agency, RTÉ News reports that the UK is liable to pay €47.5 billion to the EU as part of its post-Brexit financial settlement.
They say the figures are contained in the EU's consolidated budget report for 2020, which states that the UK owes the EU €47.456 billion under a series of articles which both sides agreed as part of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement:
The issue of what Britain would owe the EU after Brexit has been highly controversial, with eurosceptics claiming that the UK would not have to pay it if there was no deal on either the Withdrawal Agreement or the future relationship treaty.
In the early part of the exit negotiations, the UK had to reach agreement on three key issues before the talks could progress to the next stage. These included the financial settlement, citizens rights and the Irish border.
In December 2017, both sides reached agreement on the mechanism to calculate the total amount, with UK officials predicting that it would be between £35-39 billion.
The UK’s Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) predicted in its March 2018 Economic and Fiscal Outlook Report that the total bill would amount to €41.4 billion.
Therefore, the total amount is significantly higher than predicted.
This money will be paid over several decades but somehow I doubt there will be enough left over for the £350 million a week for the NHS that was promised by the Prime Minister and his pals during the referendum.
They say the figures are contained in the EU's consolidated budget report for 2020, which states that the UK owes the EU €47.456 billion under a series of articles which both sides agreed as part of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement:
The issue of what Britain would owe the EU after Brexit has been highly controversial, with eurosceptics claiming that the UK would not have to pay it if there was no deal on either the Withdrawal Agreement or the future relationship treaty.
In the early part of the exit negotiations, the UK had to reach agreement on three key issues before the talks could progress to the next stage. These included the financial settlement, citizens rights and the Irish border.
In December 2017, both sides reached agreement on the mechanism to calculate the total amount, with UK officials predicting that it would be between £35-39 billion.
The UK’s Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) predicted in its March 2018 Economic and Fiscal Outlook Report that the total bill would amount to €41.4 billion.
Therefore, the total amount is significantly higher than predicted.
This money will be paid over several decades but somehow I doubt there will be enough left over for the £350 million a week for the NHS that was promised by the Prime Minister and his pals during the referendum.
I seem to recall that the Brexit campaign were adamant that we would not be paying anything like that amount to the EU once we left. How wrong could they be, and how misled were those who went along with them.
