The UK faces a £50bn divorce bill after bowing to EU demands to honour its share of the unpaid bills, loans, pension and other liabilities accrued over 44 years of membership.
Chris Grayling, the transport secretary, said the sum apparently agreed on Tuesday was speculation, but underlined the fact that the government did not want to “walk away on bad terms”. Labour has tabled an amendment to the EU withdrawal bill that would commit the government to giving MPs a vote on the Brexit financial settlement.
Here is some of the reaction from the comments that has resonated most with fellow readers.
‘Lets stay in the EU and agree to invest £50 billion in the UK’
I think the question Brexiters must answer is why we should spend (roughly) six years worth of membership to leave the EU. At £350 million per week, the NHS would enjoy about 3 years of funding for £50 billion – of course it was never going to get that, but an additional £50 billion must be found now and you can bet the NHS and public sector employees will not be seeing a significant increase any time soon.
Lets stay in the EU and agree to invest £50 billion in the UK – the money comes from not hitting the exchequer with a loss of £15 billion a year thanks to Brexit.
DrMikeC
‘How many Brexiters in the government will distance themselves from this agreement?’
What will be interesting is how many Brexiters in the government will distance themselves from this agreement so that they can deflect criticism of their lies told before the referendum that we’d be better off.
The quicker this unravels the more likely Johnson and Gove will try to be sacked so that they can then say it’s not their fault the economy is tanking as May didn’t stand up for the country as her heart wasn’t in it
Then it will simply be a matter of whether the leave voters believe these serial liars and the tabloids or whether they wake up and decide that they do not want to be even poorer and campaign to stay in the EU.
Mrkfm
‘We are leaving the best possible economic arrangement’
There cannot be too many governments in our history who have failed so badly to manage the country’s affairs.
We are leaving the best possible economic arrangement with the EU for a second, third or even fourth best and no idea what lies ahead for us - AND paying for the privilege. Aren’t we the lucky ones?
thewash
‘The UK is being savaged by temporary custodians’
The UK is being savaged by temporary custodians. Custodians who by right have been assigned the task of promoting and protecting the UK. Instead, the hubristic traits of custodians gradually dismantle all of what we have come to know and expect of government, even when there are major disagreements.
Watching Davis yesterday is evidence in itself that the UK is swamped by the largest septic boil imaginable eating away at our democracy, human rights and sovereignty. And what Leavers thought to be an act of ‘taking back control’ has been turned on it’s head.
Fishgirl23
‘We haven’t even got to the bit where we have to pay to participate in science, education and research programmes’
And we haven’t even got to the bit where we have to pay to participate in EU science, education and research programmes going forward, nor other payments to access and use parts of the EU market mechanisms. With no rebate attached of course.
In gross terms, it really is going to be decades before we have ‘saved’ any money, with the reality being that economic impacts will reduce tax take by much more than any notional savings to be made.
Oxford
‘This shows how little the UK public knew about what our membership of the EU actually meant’
One thing this talk of “divorce bills” and “obligations” does highlight is exactly how little the UK public knew about what our membership of the EU actually meant – and I don’t mean that in terms of just economic benefits. What initiatives we were in, our actual annual “bill”, the benefits we gain and where we had to cooperate to get them. How we were different from the other 27.
The real travesty here is that the political class got a sharp kick in the nuts about all the problems going on in the UK that needed dealing with – but because of the Brexit vote, they ain’t going to be able to do anything about them. Because Brexit.
Hillsy7
‘Next it will be pay regardless of trade deal, then pay and customs union to avoid hard border’
Oh dear. This started off as pay nothing, then pay something, then pay what was suggested a year ago. Next it will be pay regardless of trade deal, then pay and customs union to avoid hard border, then pay and customs union and full EU citizens rights. Once we finally agree to what they asked for in the first place, they will give us a shitty trade deal. Why? Because they are bigger than us and they can. They always were and this was always going to be the outcome.
actualff
‘This is only the beginning’
As for Davis, Gove, Johnson Fox etc if they really believed the crap they spout, they’d pipe up and take May on on this. Of course the party being in power is more important though. The magic money tree is there for covering the party wrecking bill. We’ll still be out, and then there can be a bonfire of the regulations etc, etc.
If they did get outraged and outspoken on this blatant caving in to pressure, I’d have some modicum of respect for fighting for a certain sort of Brexit, that even if I disagree with it, would at least show they really do beleive that the UK can make a go of it, does have a strong hand if used properly.
Of course, for all the bluster they see the writing on the wall. Brexit isn’t going to be some beautiful expression of national power and sovereignty, it’s going to be a long, tortuous series of kow-towing, humiliation and concession for a post EU Britain. And they know it. This is only the beginning.
ChrisTraeger
Comments have been edited for length. You can click the links to expand and read the full conversation.
