EXCLUSIVE: Frank Furedi, government director of the assume tank MCC Brussels, mentioned the fee “underlines how the Withdrawal Settlement locked Britain into an extended tail of liabilities that few voters absolutely understood”.
Sir Keir Starmer and European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen (Picture: Getty)
As Keir Starmer pursues his reset with the EU, a brand new Treasury report has uncovered the UK’s continued £1.3 billion fee to Brussels in 2025, elevating contemporary questions on Britain’s leverage in ongoing negotiations. The European Union Funds Assertion 2025, revealed by HM Treasury on March 26, particulars how Britain continued to fulfill its obligations beneath the Withdrawal Settlement by a collection of euro-denominated invoices paid in month-to-month instalments.
The doc exhibits the total £1.3 billion was transferred final 12 months through 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 Might. Frank Furedi, government director of the assume tank MCC Brussels, mentioned: “The truth that the UK continues to be paying £1.3 billion in 2025 – years after formally leaving the European Union – underlines how the Withdrawal Settlement locked Britain into an extended tail of liabilities that few voters absolutely understood.”
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Starmer: ‘We aren’t the Britain of the Brexit years anymore.’
The Treasury’s personal figures present that between 2020 and the top of 2025, the UK paid a internet £25.7 billion to Brussels. Desk 3.A information gross funds of £42.2 billion over the interval, offset by receipts, ensuing within the £25.7 billion internet outturn.
Desk 3.B units the general Treasury level estimate for the whole monetary settlement – together with Article 50 extension prices – at £37.9 billion internet.
The report confirms that these funds are managed by a rolling system of invoices and instalments stretching throughout the calendar 12 months. The doc explains the EU’s invoicing course of and using every day alternate charges to transform euro liabilities into sterling.
The overwhelming majority of this cash just isn’t ring-fenced, that means it flows instantly into the EU’s basic funds with restricted transparency over how it’s in the end spent.
Solely a particular portion – primarily associated to UK pension liabilities (€333.9 million) and entry to sure IT programs and databases (€1.4 million) – is handled as assigned income for particular functions. The rest enters the EU’s central funds as unassigned income.
Mr Furedi added: “These funds aren’t even simple: they’re made by a rolling system of invoices and instalments stretching throughout the 12 months, reinforcing the sense that Brexit has not delivered a clear monetary break.
“Furthermore, the overwhelming majority of this cash just isn’t ringfenced, that means it flows instantly into the EU’s basic funds with restricted transparency over how it’s in the end spent.”
The report additionally identifies separate liabilities exterior the principle settlement. A further £481 million stays excellent for the UK’s contribution to the European Improvement Fund.
Separate discussions proceed over the EU’s calls for for further funds linked to the “World Margin of Commitments”, with the Treasury noting ongoing negotiations beneath the Withdrawal Settlement’s governance constructions.
Funds associated to UK participation in programmes similar to Horizon Europe and Erasmus+ are dealt with beneath separate preparations and aren’t included in these figures.
Mr Furedi concluded: “As Keir Starmer pursues his much-vaunted ‘reset’ with the EU, this lingering monetary entanglement raises severe questions on how a lot leverage the UK actually has.
“Removed 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, slightly 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 primarily based on precise transactions and present forecasts. It initiatives funds persevering with till 2065, primarily for long-term pension liabilities.
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