Over £20bn now paid by the UK to the EU since fully exiting the bloc
CIBUK.org
Posted On September 2, 2023
‘UK in hock to the EU nearly three years on’
Once again we are indebted to our research-based affiliate Brexit Facts4EU for their shocking exposé on the UK’s on-going payments to the European Union more than TWO YEARS after the end of the transition period which followed our departure from the EU on 31st January 2020.
In the last twelve months alone, the UK has handed over a staggering £8.6bn. And for what, one asks. To help police our borders??
Even the European Commission has been unable to raise any legal justification for these sums being payable.
The facts behind this sorry saga are laid bare in a withering report which we publish in full below with a link to the original beneath it.
EXCLUSIVE : Over £20bn now paid by the UK to the EU since fully exiting the bloc
Including the 11 month Transition Period this rises to over £33bn
Special Brexit Facts4EU.Org report reveals shocking truth of UK’s continuing payments to EU
Brexit Facts4EU.Org can reveal that the UK’s continuing payments to the EU since the end of the Transition Period have just exceeded £20bn. That’s £20bn in just 35 months.
If we include the 11 months of the ‘Transition Period’ after the UK supposedly exited the EU, then the total increases to a staggering £33.1bn. (£33.124) That’s a total of £33bn in just 46 months.
We believe it likely that our analysis of the Public Sector Finance Tables held by the Office for National Statistics will come as a shock to a great many voters. Firstly we reveal the latest official figures and then ask the fundamental question: “Why?”
In the last 12 months alone, the United Kingdom has given the EU Commission an astonishing £8.6bn.
This is all because of the ‘Divorce Bill’ which Theresa May negotiated with the EU. There was never any legal justification for such a bill, as we will show below.
Summary
Payments to the EU arising from the Withdrawal Agreement and Theresa May’s ‘Divorce Bill’
1. UK payments since ‘full exit’ on 31 Dec 2020
[Source : Office for National Statistics Public Sector Finance Tables, 22 Aug 2023.]
© Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2022 – click to enlarge
2. UK payments to the EU in the preceding 11-mth Transition Period (Feb-Dec 2020)
[Source : Office for National Statistics Public Sector Finance Tables, 22 Aug 2023.]
© Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2022 – click to enlarge
3. Grand total of payments since the government “Got Brexit Done”
£33,124 paid by the UK to the EU since ‘Brexit Got Done’
These are the official central government expenditure figures
The figures above are official. They come from the latest release of public expenditure information and the associated statistical tables, which Brexit Facts4EU.Org has extracted.
This sum is not like the figures before 2021 when the UK was still paying into the EU budget. These are the UK’s payments under the Withdrawal Agreement.
The UK formally left the EU on 31 January 2020. During the remaining 11 months of 2020 the UK participated in the EU Budget largely as if a Member State, as was agreed by Theresa May in a ‘financial settlement’ between the UK and EU. We then left completely (except for Northern Ireland) on 31 December 2020.
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Why pay the EU?
Never at any time has the EU Commission been able to raise any legal justification whatsoever for these sums being payable.
In 2017, the pro-EU European Union Committee of the House of Lords also examined this issue and concluded – perhaps reluctantly – that there was no basis for any payments to the EU after the UK left.
Summary
No legal justification, said pro-EU House of Lords
The House of Lords Committee reached two main legal conclusions in its 04 March 2017 report on ‘Brexit and the EU budget’.
1. “Article 50 TEU allows the UK to leave the UK without being liable for outstanding financial obligations under the EU budget and related financial instruments, unless a withdrawal agreement is concluded which resolves the issue.” (para. 135)
2. “The jurisdiction of the CJEU over the UK would also come to an end when the EU Treaties ceased to have effect. Outstanding payments could not, therefore, be enforced against the UK in the CJEU.” (para. 133).
House of Lords European Union Committee, Mar 2017
Despite all of this, the United Kingdom has continued to subsidise the European Union’s activities, month after month.
Observations
Theresa May and the Remainers have a lot to answer for
With the ‘Divorce Bill’, the EU tried it on and Theresa May agreed. With no legal basis for the EU’s claim, we imagine the Commission cannot have believed their luck.
It is common practice amongst the extreme Rejoiner community to take every outcome such as the one above and say “This is what you voted for.” They try to blame Brexit, instead of apportioning the blame where it originates – the EU.
It was the EU that insisted on these ongoing payments and it was the disastrously weak negotiating abilities of Mrs May’s government that allowed the whole concept of payments after leaving to become entrenched.
This was then compounded when Boris Johnson’s government was forced to accept the hand they had been dealt, as the Remainer House of Commons at the time deliberately scuppered negotiations with techniques such as the ‘Benn Act’. This effectively tied Lord Frost’s hands behind his back in the final negotiations.
The nature of the EU beast
For the UK still to be paying the EU many billions per year demonstrates the nature of the EU beast. It also shows the damage inflicted on the country by the anti-democratic actions of the pro-Remain majorities in the Houses of Commons and Lords.
At the time there were of course pro-Brexit forces such as Facts4EU.Org, arguing fervently for leaving without a trade deal and simply trading with the EU on WTO terms. We led a consortium of Brexit organisations under the ‘Go-WTO’ banner. Had our argument prevailed we would not still be paying the EU today.
The Withdrawal Agreement and its accompanying Political Declaration were pre-requisites for the ‘Trade and Cooperation Agreement’. We would have signed none of these. There would then have been no ongoing payments, no Northern Ireland Protocol, no jurisdiction of the European Court, and we would have had control of our fisheries.
Crucially there would then have been no commitment to staying under the ECHR, allowing us to leave it without drama and giving us far more power to control immigration.
The original article can be found here.
CIBUK thanks its Affiliated Organisation Brexit Facts4EU.Org for permission to republish this article.
Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2023
