Brexit divorce bill will be £3BILLION bigger than promised by Theresa May, shock report claims
Britain's public spending watchdog has warned the UK faces a larger bill to quit the EU than the £39billion previously claimed
BRITAIN’S £38billion divorce bill from Brussels is at least £3billion short, the UK’s finance watchdog has warned.
The National Audit Office found some pledges the Government has made to honour payments to EU funds were not included in the final total.
A £2.9billion pledge to the European Development Agency was overlooked and not included in the tally.
And they said the total could yet change with the true sum not known until 2064.
But the NAO described the estimates published by ministers as “reasonable” while stressing the sum was based on a number of assumptions about what will happen in the future.
The total cost of the exit settlement cannot be defined until there is more certainty in areas like UK economic performance in 2019 and 2020 and the cost of pension liabilities.
How much British organisations will continue to receive in EU funding after withdrawal and exchange rate fluctuations as the divorce bill will be paid in euros will also have an impact.
Their new report states: “Relatively small changes to some assumptions about future events could push the cost outside of HM Treasury’s £35billion to £39billion range.”
How much the UK contributes to the EU annual budgets in 2019 and 2020 will be calculated on the basis of the UK’s future economic outlook, which will also partly determine Britain’s share of outstanding commitments and liabilities after 2020, the report states.
Head of the NAO, Sir Amyas Morse, said: “The estimate reflects a number of moving parts, so the range of costs in it could have been wider than £35billion to £39billion. But overall we think it is a reasonable estimate."
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But Commons Treasury Committee chairman Nicky Morgan said the sum was still “shrouded in uncertainty.”
A Government spokesman said: “We have always been clear that we will honour commitments made while being part of the EU, and we have negotiated a settlement that is fair to UK taxpayers and means we will not pay for any additional EU spending beyond what we signed up to as a member.
“The NAO has confirmed that our estimated figure is a reasonable calculation and we are now discussing our future relationship.”