Millions of voters are not going to like this at all - Campaign for an Independent Britain

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This report has been co-published with our affiliated organisation, Brexit Facts4EU.Org. We are most grateful for their original research into the raw data which backs what follows.

CIBUK’s report today reveals that the UK has had to pay the EU £10bn in the last 12 months

In association with our affiliated organisation Brexit Facts4EU, CIBUK.Org has published the facts about exactly how much the UK continues to pay the EU each month, despite having left the European Union over 18 months ago.

The results of this investigation are unlikely to please many voters, particularly given the cost of living crisis.

The UK gave the EU £10bn in the last 12 months – what for?

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.

The figures are official. They come from the latest release of public expenditure information and the associated statistical tables, which Facts4EU.Org has extracted for CIBUK.Org.

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.

[Source: Office for National Statistics, latest figures released Aug 2022.]

Why pay?

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.

“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.”

“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.”

– House of Lords European Union Committee, Mar 2017

Despite all of this, the United Kingdom has continued to subsidise the European Union’s activities, receiving nothing in return.

“Theresa May and the Remainers have a lot to answer for,” commented CIBUK’s Chairman Leigh Evans.

“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.

“For the UK still to be paying the EU £10bn 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.”

“All in all, Liz Truss has a great deal to do on taking office in a few days’ time. We can only wish her the best of British.”

For the original version of this article, click here: https://facts4eu.org/news/2022_sep_eu_greed