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

Facts4EU.Org's report today is going to make a lot of voters angry

Montage © Facts4EU.Org

Six years after voting to leave, 18 months after leaving, the EU keeps on taking from the UK

In today's shocking report, Facts4EU.Org - in association with CIBUK.Org - lifts the lid on the EU Commission’s continuing greed and the UK’s incredible generosity.

Delving deep into the Government’s latest detailed figures on expenditure since the EU Referendum, Facts4EU.Org and CIBUK.Org can reveal just how much money the UK has been sending to the EU Commission since the British electorate voted to leave the European Union.

In the last 12 months alone, the United Kingdom has given the EU Commission an astonishing £10bn.

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.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

Last 12 months of UK payments to EU under the EU’s and Theresa May’s ‘Divorce Bill’

Total for last 12 months: £9.95bn - and continuing

  • 2021 AUG : £806 m
  • 2021 SEP : £805 m
  • 2021 OCT : £862 m
  • 2021 NOV : £860 m
  • 2021 DEC : £872 m
  • 2022 JAN : £852 m
  • 2022 FEB : £851 m
  • 2022 MAR : £855 m
  • 2022 APR : £863 m
  • 2022 MAY : £868 m
  • 2022 JUN : £738 m
  • 2022 JUL : £720 m
  • TOTAL £9.95 BN

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

© Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2022 - click to enlarge

The UK has given the EU almost £10bn in the last 12 months

The figures above are official. They come from the latest release of public expenditure information and the associated statistical tables, which 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 in a ‘financial settlement’ between the UK and EU. We then left completely (except for Northern Ireland) on 31 December 2020.

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.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org 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, receiving nothing in return.

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 £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.

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.

On Liz Truss’s “to do list”

If the voting public wish to have control over illegal (and legal) immigration – and they do – then we must withdraw from the ECHR and from the UN’s Convention on Refugees, neither of which are fit for the modern age. In addition the Modern Slavery Act, bequeathed to us by Mrs May in one of her last acts as PM, must be radically amended.

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.

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[ Sources: Office for National Statistics | House of Lords European Union Committee ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Thurs 01 Sept 2022

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