Will May Pay or Hope it Fades Away? £55b exit bill...

Will May Pay or Hope it Fades Away? £55b exit bill...

Author
Discussion

robm3

Original Poster:

4,927 posts

226 months

Wednesday 29th March 2017
quotequote all
This is going to be interesting. I see there's also a £2-3b potential bill for 'failing to crack down' on duty fraud.


ALawson

7,814 posts

250 months

Wednesday 29th March 2017
quotequote all
Hasn't she already said UK will pay its dues, the number isn't huge (well it is), in the grand scheme on total national debt.

Murph7355

37,651 posts

255 months

Wednesday 29th March 2017
quotequote all
Let's see what the details and numbers are once they've sat down and discussed it. Assuming we have sensible negotiation and a sensible deal then of course we should pay. Oh, and as long as the EU are very clear what every penny covers and we get auditability of where it actually gets spent.

These are also budget commitments to 2020. So presumably our fees up to March 2019 are also part of the total. Only another year's worth of fluff plus ongoing nonsense like some pension commitments to worry about.

anonymous-user

53 months

Wednesday 29th March 2017
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the NHS is still waiting for the extra 300 million a week as well..oh wait a second

Its all numbers thrown around that basically have no true meaning.

FN2TypeR

7,091 posts

92 months

Wednesday 29th March 2017
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She'll pay.

Dixy

2,913 posts

204 months

Wednesday 29th March 2017
quotequote all
A concept some seem to have difficulty with
negotiate
nɪˈɡəʊʃɪeɪt/
verb
1.
obtain or bring about by discussion.
"he negotiated a new contract with the sellers"
synonyms: arrange, work out, thrash out, hammer out, reach an agreement on, agree on, come to terms about, reach terms on, broker; More
2.
find a way over or through (an obstacle or difficult route).
"she cautiously negotiated the hairpin bend"
synonyms: get round/past/over, make one's way round/past/over, make it round/past/over, clear, cross, pass over; More

SKP555

1,114 posts

125 months

Wednesday 29th March 2017
quotequote all
Isn't it supposedly for the pensions of British people working for the EU?

In which case we should just pay the pensions ourselves as if they had been civil servants.

Wrap up the projects we already committed to and that's that.

We shouldn't be plugging a gaping hole in the EU budget just because they demand it.

Andy 308GTB

2,918 posts

220 months

Wednesday 29th March 2017
quotequote all
Dixy said:
A concept some seem to have difficulty with
negotiate
n???????e?t/
verb
1.
obtain or bring about by discussion.
"he negotiated a new contract with the sellers"
synonyms: arrange, work out, thrash out, hammer out, reach an agreement on, agree on, come to terms about, reach terms on, broker; More
2.
find a way over or through (an obstacle or difficult route).
"she cautiously negotiated the hairpin bend"
synonyms: get round/past/over, make one's way round/past/over, make it round/past/over, clear, cross, pass over; More
Acknowledgement of this concept would take all the fun out of internet discussions.

FN2TypeR

7,091 posts

92 months

Wednesday 29th March 2017
quotequote all
SKP555 said:
Isn't it supposedly for the pensions of British people working for the EU?

In which case we should just pay the pensions ourselves as if they had been civil servants.

Wrap up the projects we already committed to and that's that.

We shouldn't be plugging a gaping hole in the EU budget just because they demand it.
Once our commitments are met, whatever they are, we won't be.

alock

4,224 posts

210 months

Wednesday 29th March 2017
quotequote all
As net contributors, if we are expected to pay to leave, that must imply net receivers would be paid to leave.

I can see even more motivation for Greece to leave if the EU will pay them €50bn to do so.

PurpleMoonlight

22,362 posts

156 months

Wednesday 29th March 2017
quotequote all
SKP555 said:
Isn't it supposedly for the pensions of British people working for the EU?

In which case we should just pay the pensions ourselves as if they had been civil servants.

Wrap up the projects we already committed to and that's that.

We shouldn't be plugging a gaping hole in the EU budget just because they demand it.
There is no funded pension scheme as far as I aware, pensions are paid from EU cashflow.

Pensions for all EU employees/MEP's were accrued while we were members so it is not unreasonable that we contribute to the future payment of those accrued benefits. Converting that long term liability into a lump sum is likely to be billions.

NoNeed

15,137 posts

199 months

Wednesday 29th March 2017
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How do we owe them money? We have been net contributors since 1979.

Puggit

48,355 posts

247 months

Wednesday 29th March 2017
quotequote all
FN2TypeR said:
She'll pay.
Rumour is that this bill will be paid in exchange for single market access

Biker 1

7,694 posts

118 months

Wednesday 29th March 2017
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Puggit said:
Rumour is that this bill will be paid in exchange for single market access
Seems rather pointless, as I wager the EU as we know it will be a rump, bankrupt affair in the next few years.

hyphen

26,262 posts

89 months

Wednesday 29th March 2017
quotequote all
Usual stuff.

EU set the initial figure artificially high so it can be negotiated down, May will claim victory for paying less, EU will crow about how Britain paid Billions, and the world will continue to turn.

brrapp

3,701 posts

161 months

Wednesday 29th March 2017
quotequote all
Yes, we have made commitments which we will have to honour, but it's not a one way street, commitments have been made to spend money in the UK too which will equally have to be honoured by the EU. The negotiations will be to work out what the net sum will be and which direction it will flow.
I don't think it will be anything like a net payment of £55Bn from us to them.

Murph7355

37,651 posts

255 months

Wednesday 29th March 2017
quotequote all
NoNeed said:
How do we owe them money? We have been net contributors since 1979.
Because we committed to certain budget items when a member, net contributors or not.

It's only right that we stand by any commitments that cannot reasonably be mitigated. There will also be positive projects that we should want to continue to be involved with and set a decent precedent on (I suspect. Don't ask me to name any smile). The question outstanding is the amount. Which I'm sure will be thrashed out in good humour over the coming months.

End of the day, even 60bn is "only" 6yrs' net contributions. And we're still in it for the next 2yrs. If they can justify the rest and we can see the explicit benefit in it AND continue to have a direct say where relevant, then so be it. A price worth paying.

Pan Pan Pan

9,777 posts

110 months

Wednesday 29th March 2017
quotequote all
The Spruce goose said:
the NHS is still waiting for the extra 300 million a week as well..oh wait a second

Its all numbers thrown around that basically have no true meaning.
What, you mean like the UK receives funding from the EU?.... Oh wait a second, as you say, it is all numbers thrown around that have no true meaning.

ChemicalChaos

10,360 posts

159 months

Wednesday 29th March 2017
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How about "we'll pay once you get your accounts signed off by external auditors"


MYOB

4,767 posts

137 months

Wednesday 29th March 2017
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I think the UK has to pay otherwise the EU will not allow its members to negotiate trade agreements with the UK after the "divorce".