Brexit bill should be less than HALF of Juncker's £52billion claim, top think tank says
BRITAIN’S Brexit bill should be less than half the £52billion Jean-Claude Juncker has been claiming, a respected think tank has found.
Jean-Claude Juncker said the Brexit bill should be £52billion
Researchers found the UK could pay as little as £21.7billion in the first comprehensive study into what Britain can expect to pay and get back after leaving the European Union (EU).
The Breugel study found the bill is likely to be significantly less than the £52billion public demand when its rebate is taken into consideration as well as its share of existing EU assets.
They found £21.7billion would be at the low end of estimates, however a fairer and more likely figure for Britain’s net liabilities is £30.6billion.
European Commission members are likely to use Breugel’s findings as a starting point for figuring out the sum as the think-tank is highly respected.
The report is the most thorough analysis of the bloc’s liabilities, assets and commitments so far.
David Davis may be able to argue the Brexit bill should be less than £21.7bn
Researchers found by the end of 2018 the EU’s financial commitments will amount to £620billion.
This figure includes money which has been set aside for the seven-year budgetary period ending in 2020, which Britain has agreed to.
Verhofstadt admits EU has to consider British assets in Brexit bill
Britain’s share of that commitment is 12 per cent which would equal a gross liability of £74.4billion.
They also found a total of £165billion is owed to the EU through assets and cash over that same period.
The UK’s share is likely to be about £15.2billion which would leave a net bill of £59billion.
However, that total does not include cash due to be paid to Britain over that period.
A total of £24.7billion, plus a rebate of £3.9billion brings the final bill to £30.6billion.
European leaders have been keen to get as much as cash out of the UK as possible
Nicola Sturgeon today sent a letter to Mrs May saying Scotland wants a second referendum
The think tank looked at 12 scenarios, with only one bringing the Brexit bill higher than the £52billion European Commission President Juncker has demanded the UK pay.
Zsolt Darvas, one of the report’s authors, said the only way the Commission could close to its purported figure would be to remove Britain’s current rebate on EU contributions.
He said £21.7billion may not even be the lowest possible figure for the UK, if it could argue it was not responsible for any EU spending it has signed off on after Brexit happens.