Britain’s EU bill set to soar by third to over £10bn in final two years before Brexit
Treasury slips out figures yesterday confirming our net payment to Brussels budget will rise to £8.1bn in 2017/18
BRITAIN’S EU bill will skyrocket by almost a third to more than £10billion in the year before we finally throw off the Brussels shackles.
Yesterday the Treasury slipped out official figures confirming that our net payments will go from £7.9billion in this financial year to £8.1billion in 2017/18.
But that figure will jump to £10.2billion in 2018/19 – meaning the final two years before Brexit will cost the UK at least £18.3billion.
The hike is forecast by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility, and they say the bill could rise further if Theresa May agrees a transitional deal in Brussels divorcee talks.
This would in all likelihood mean continuing to pay into the EU coffers for several years more while a more complex agreement on trade and finance is ironed out.
Conservative MP Peter Bone last night told the it was “perverse” to expect British taxpayers to increase contributions to the EU after the historic vote to leave.
He said the figures “show that we need to leave as soon as possible, because every day we stay is costing us more money”.
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And former Ukip leader Nigel Farage said it was “not surprising” that Britain was being asked to contribute more, adding: “They want every penny they can get from us.”
It comes after Britain’s former EU envoy warned Brexit talks will descend into a “fist fight”, and see Theresa May handed a £50 billion divorce bill.
In a doom-laden warning, Europhile Sir Ivan Rogers said a new free trade deal with the EU may not be signed until the mid-2020s.
He told MPs a ‘Hard Brexit’ would be a disaster for the economy- and push back the process of any new trade talks with the EU for years.
And sparking fury from Brexit supporters he said the threats of a divorce bill from EU negotiators were “genuine” given the Brexit vote had “exploded a bomb” under the EU’s budget.
Sir Ivan warned we may even be on the hook for pension liabilities for years to come to officials who have served in Brussels over the past 40 years.
