Brexit bombshell as stunning report reveals UK gave £1.3bn to EU final yr | Politics | News | EUROtoday

As Keir Starmer pursues his reset with the EU, a brand new Treasury report has uncovered the UK’s continued £1.3 billion cost to Brussels in 2025, elevating contemporary questions on Britain’s leverage in ongoing negotiations. The European Union Finances Statement 2025, printed by HM Treasury on March 26, particulars how Britain continued to satisfy its obligations beneath the Withdrawal Agreement by a collection of euro-denominated invoices paid in month-to-month instalments.

The doc reveals the total £1.3 billion was transferred final yr by way of two invoices issued by the EU in April and September, with the April sum settled in 4 instalments from June to September and the September bill paid in eight month-to-month instalments from October to May. Frank Furedi, government director of the suppose tank MCC Brussels, mentioned: “The fact that the UK is still paying £1.3 billion in 2025 – years after formally leaving the European Union – underlines how the Withdrawal Agreement locked Britain into a long tail of liabilities that few voters fully understood.”

The Treasury’s personal figures present that between 2020 and the top of 2025, the UK paid a web £25.7 billion to Brussels. Table 3.A data gross funds of £42.2 billion over the interval, offset by receipts, ensuing within the £25.7 billion web outturn.

Table 3.B units the general Treasury level estimate for the whole monetary settlement – together with Article 50 extension prices – at £37.9 billion web.

The report confirms that these funds are managed by a rolling system of invoices and instalments stretching throughout the calendar yr. The doc explains the EU’s invoicing course of and the usage of each day change charges to transform euro liabilities into sterling.

The overwhelming majority of this cash just isn’t ring-fenced, that means it flows immediately into the EU’s normal funds with restricted transparency over how it’s finally spent.

Only a particular portion – primarily associated to UK pension liabilities (€333.9 million) and entry to sure IT methods and databases (€1.4 million) – is handled as assigned income for particular functions. The the rest enters the EU’s central funds as unassigned income.

Mr Furedi added: “These funds should not even simple: they’re made by a rolling system of invoices and instalments stretching throughout the yr, reinforcing the sense that Brexit has not delivered a clear monetary break.

“Moreover, the overwhelming majority of this money is not ringfenced, meaning it flows directly into the EU’s general budget with limited transparency over how it is ultimately spent.”

The report also identifies separate liabilities outside the main settlement. An additional £481 million remains outstanding for the UK’s contribution to the European Development Fund.

Separate discussions continue over the EU’s demands for extra payments linked to the “Global Margin of Commitments”, with the Treasury noting ongoing negotiations under the Withdrawal Agreement’s governance structures.

Payments related to UK participation in programmes such as Horizon Europe and Erasmus+ are handled under separate arrangements and are not included in these figures.

Mr Furedi concluded: “As Keir Starmer pursues his much-vaunted ‘reset’ with the EU, this lingering financial entanglement raises serious questions about how much leverage the UK really has.

“Far from drawing a line beneath membership, the UK stays tied into a fancy net of obligations and ongoing negotiations – from residual liabilities to potential extra calls for – which danger deepening, fairly than resolving, the ambiguities of the Brexit settlement.”

The Treasury doc, the forty fifth within the collection on the implementation of the settlement, stresses that every one figures are based mostly on precise transactions and present forecasts. It tasks funds persevering with till 2065, primarily for long-term pension liabilities.