Brexit ‘divorce bill’ may be more around 60 billion Euros as UK caves in to EU27 demands
How much indeed: Cartoonist Patrick Blower on the Brexit bill that the UK is agreeing to pay.
UK negotiators from the Conservative government have caved in completely to demands by the EU27 and will pay up every penny of unpaid bills, loans, pension and other liabilities, costing anything up to 60 billion Euros.
The money will be used to support, among other things, projects to improve eastern European economies, according to discussion on the BBC’s Daily Politics today.
Theresa May offered only 20 billion Euros in her Florence speech, so the Tories have completely failed to hold the cost down. In fact, according to The Guardian (below), the gross total could be £89 billion.
That’s money we’ll be paying.
But it seems we won’t be told the final, settled amount, as both the UK and the EU27 seem keen to keep schtum about it, afraid that it will provoke fury here in Blighty.
That means we should be angry.
It means David Davis has utterly failed in the government’s aim to keep the bill down.
Mr Davis has other things on his mind, though – he should be dragging himself shamefacedly before the Commons Brexit committee to answer allegations that he is treating Parliament with contempt by delivering a single, edited, copy of his Brexit impact assessments, in paper form rather than digitally, rather than providing it in the form demanded.
The Tory government has betrayed us over Brexit because it is weak, yet arrogant. Why are we putting up with it?
The UK has bowed to EU demands on the Brexit divorce bill in a move that could result in the UK paying £50bn to Brussels, in an attempt to get France and Germany to agree to move negotiations to trade.
Non-stop behind-the-scenes negotiations have led to a broad agreement by the UK to a gross financial settlement of £89bn on leaving the bloc, although the British expect the final net bill to be half as much.
A senior EU official told the Guardian that the UK appeared ready to honour its share of the EU’s unpaid bills, loans, pension and other liabilities accrued over 44 years of membership. “We have heard the UK wants to come along with the money,” the official said. “We have understood it covers the liabilities and what we consider the real commitments. But we have to see the fine print.”
The bill could total £53bn to £58bn (€60bn to €65bn), although EU officials are not discussing numbers and the British government will fight hard to bring the total down. While EU sources have spoken in recent months of £53bn to £58bn, both sides are trying to avoid talking numbers to help the British government deal with the potentially toxic political fallout.
Source: UK could pay £50bn Brexit divorce bill after bowing to EU pressure | Politics | The Guardian
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How exactly have we been running up a bill with the EU that is the equivalent of OVER £1,000,000,000 per year of membership?
This literally make no sense at all and is clearly a ransom demand to stay in. If it isnt and we WERE reciving that amount a year (to be owing it back) then we were right to leave.
If this is simply to pay commitments to the EU and they are THAT wasteful then we were right to leave.
I simply cannot wrap my head around such bizarre figures.
It’s not a ransom demand to stay in.
Trouble is, without seeing an itemised list of the elements of that bill, there’s no way to stop people saying that.
The Tory government won’t provide that list because it will make the Tory government look bad.
The EU won’t provide it out of courtesy to the Tory government that the Tory government doesn’t deserve.
My understanding is that it is to pay commitments to the EU. That doesn’t mean the EU is wasteful – simply that the UK has offered up that much money in the past.
We should ditch Brexit altogether as there is no possibility of a deal that makes the UK better-off than it is now, both economically and socially
And still you support this undemocratic regime. You can see what sort of people run the EU. Juncker and Barnier are bitter and twisted!
“The U.K. will lose all decision-making powers in EU foreign policy and defense issues after Brexit and cannot remain a member of the cross-border law enforcement agency Europol”, said Michel Barnier
That last bit doesn’t seem sensible! We’re leaving the EU… We’re not leaving Europe! But maybe we’re better off out of it when they march on Moscow!
Who is runnning the EU? The EU parliament or a few nutcases?
The Greeks will be the next ones out of the EU. They’re having their homes repossessed and sold off …
Probably to the Germans…
Undemocratic? They’re supporting the decision of the UK’s EU referendum.
Michel Barnier wasn’t being bitter and twisted when he spoke of the consequences of that vote – he was simply saying that this is what it means.
I’m sorry you didn’t know that. Perhaps somebody lied to you.
So pots of money for nothing. Of course if we stay in we will get the subsidies. You know the ones to farmers which keep them alfoat, Community development, you know roads in Wales and Cornwall, community centres, to name just a few. Oh of course access to the largest free trading market in the world which the BRITISH created. And of course we must not forget our human rights protection, also written by the British. We vote for the European members of parliament and our government appoints our commissioner to the EU Commission.
So we can now compare with the UK. Elected members of parliament, unelected upper house, the Lords, and of course an unelected head of state. Now the former under dictator May is having its teeth pulled. British democracy given away by Brexiteers.
Hear Hear Carol. The referendum was literally right-wing coup.
It is the cost of Tory in-fighting and utter stupidity.