Britain's contribution to the EU is less than half the £350 million figure used by the Vote Leave campaign.
So it turns out we’re probably leaving the EU on the back of yet another whopping lie from the Vote Leave campaign: the £350m a week they said we send to the EU is actually half that, it’s been revealed.
We currently send the EU about £156m a week, less half of the £350m bandied about by the Vote Leave campaign, new official figures have revealed.
The UK’s net contribution has actually fallen to its lowest level in five years, the UK Statistics Authority showed.
This, of course, was only one lie amongst many in the Vote Leave campaign. One of their key promises around EU funding was to take the £350m a week and invest it into the NHS.
This was quickly reneged on by the Tory party, who failed to include it in their election manifesto.
So not only was the more NHS funding ‘carrot’, dangled in front of voters by the Vote Leave campaign, a lie, but so too was the £350m-a-week ‘stick’.
“Now, not only have the Brexiteers failed to stump up the extra cash, but it turns out our actual contribution to the EU is less than half what they claimed”
Tom Brake, Liberal Democrat Brexit spokesperson said, adding: “This pales in comparison to the benefits we get and the damage to our economy that would be caused by leaving the single market.”
“These figures show that you shouldn’t believe everything you read on the side of a bus or that you hear from Boris Johnson’s mouth”.
Chuka Umunna, Labour MP and supporter of the Open Britain campaign, said of the news, adding:
“Those people who voted to quit the EU because they thought leaving the EU would deliver a cash boost for the NHS are going to be left disappointed. Brexit will mean less, not more, money for our public services.”
Also today: Huge anti-Brexit protest being planned outside Tory conference.
4 Responses to “The UK is paying EU half of what Brexit campaigners claimed”
NHSGP
The EU demands 100,000 million Euros as a leaving present.
Why have you omitted that?
Bailing out the EU is going to give a massive hit to the NHS unless we have a clean brexit.
If we remained we would have to pay Eurocrat pensions not NHS nurses.
Alma
Did you ever think how much EU is going to lose? This Brexit is not good for them!
Jonathan Bagley
I’d say the BBC analysis is both less misleading and more informative, arriving at a figure of £252 million a week. If a mugger robbed you of £100 and said you could have £40 back as long as you spent it on a pair of size 14 shoes and five boxes of All-bran, how much did he steal from you?
Mike Stallard
This is important. We and the Germans are supporting the EU. When we walk away, it will crash. The EU has the power to cut us off by turning off the computers on 30th March 2019.
I suspect that the politicians of all stripes will do what they always do – lie through their teeth and pay up in return for continued trade. Things will just stay the same with a lot of lies and a lot of flag waving.