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Britain has put aside greater than £10bn for post-Brexit funds to the EU because the UK continues sending billions to Brussels regardless of having left the bloc years in the past.
To cowl the price of the UK’s divorce from Europe, the federal government has accounted for £10.6bn in future funds for Brussels workers and diplomats’ pensions, in addition to Britain’s pre-existing monetary obligations.
Official authorities figures this week revealed that the supply for persevering with “EU liabilities” has fallen from £31.7bn a yr in the past and £38.7bn the yr earlier than.
However the determine nonetheless stands at greater than £10bn, with critics saying the UK remains to be “paying huge sums for a horrible Brexit deal”. The revelation comes after Rachel Reeves’ Price range piled £40bn of recent taxes on households and companies – with the chancellor claiming the adjustments had been essential to fill a black gap within the public funds left by the Conservatives.
SNP MP Stephen Gethins, an ardent anti-Brexit campaigner, added: “Not solely is Brexit taking away our rights, hurting enterprise and eradicating alternatives from younger individuals, it’s additionally costing a fortune.
“We’re unnecessarily crippling our financial system and paying billions for the privilege.”
Former armed forces minister Sir Nick Harvey stated that in addition to persevering with funds to the EU, Brexit remains to be having a big impression on the financial system.
The Impartial final month revealed that authorities estimates present Brexit will reduce UK commerce by 15 per cent in the long term. This paper then uncovered figures from the impartial spending watchdog displaying that simply 40 per cent of the financial harm of Brexit has materialised, with the vast majority of the impression but to be felt.
Sir Nick, a former Lib Dem MP, advised The Impartial the federal government is “tinkering across the edges” and that “addressing the financial harm accomplished by Brexit should develop into a precedence”.
And, amid Sir Keir Starmer’s post-Brexit reset with the bloc, Sir Nick stated a return to the one market and customs union should be on the desk.
Dr Mike Galsworthy, chairman of European Motion UK, stated: “The huge sums we’re nonetheless paying for a horrible Brexit deal that even Kemi Badenoch has admitted isn’t working simply exhibits what an entire catastrophe each facet of leaving the EU has been for our nation.”
He stated Brexit has been “the elephant within the room for much too lengthy”, including that it’s “reckless to disregard the extreme harm” it’s doing to already stretched public funds.
Sir Keir has launched into a reset of relations with Brussels after years of acrimony underneath the Conservatives. The prime minister has held talks with European Fee president Ursula von der Leyen and different EU leaders about how the UK can work extra intently with its nearest neighbours.
One of many EU’s key calls for in reset talks is a youth mobility scheme, which might let younger individuals stay and work between the UK and Europe for a number of years. Sir Keir has to this point refused to think about the association, making main progress tough.
The Commerce and Cooperation Settlement, which at the moment governs commerce between the 2, can be to be renewed subsequent yr.
Stuart Coster, director of the pro-Brexit Democracy Motion, stated the £10.6bn put aside for future funds to the EU was merely “the winding down of our EU membership prices and present the true scale of how a lot cash the EU was costing Britain’s taxpayers and public companies”.
“It’s fully hypocritical of EU supporters to now complain about billions of kilos in EU spending that they campaigned to see proceed,” he advised The Impartial. And, in a dig on the authorities’s repeated complaints about tight public funds, he stated: “Rachel Reeves might be thanking Brexit that these EU prices will quickly be ending.”
However, after The Impartial revealed the determine, Liberal Democrat MP Caroline Voaden stated “think about what the federal government might do with that cash” as a substitute. “It will fill a black gap,” she added.
The previous MEP advised The Impartial: “These figures are sadly not shocking. Throughout the referendum marketing campaign, so many people sounded the alarm over how a lot Brexit would value, not simply in 2016 however sooner or later too.
“Whereas down from final yr’s figures, the £10.6bn put aside for future funds to the EU remains to be an astronomically massive amount of cash, which might undeniably be higher spent on our public companies, particularly the NHS and social care.”
A Treasury spokesman stated: “The 2019 Withdrawal Settlement which was negotiated underneath a earlier authorities included a settlement for UK to repay excellent monetary money owed to the EU.
“This settlement has been paid underneath successive governments since we left the EU and the determine has decreased considerably over time.
“This authorities is dedicated to resetting our relationship with the EU, and following their assembly on 2 October, the Prime Minister and the President of the European Fee agreed to strengthen this and put it on a extra stable, steady footing.”
