Cost of EU spiralling out of control - Allister
18 August 2007
Statement by Jim Allister MEP:
The net annual cost to the UK of EU membership is set to rocket by 20% over last year’s figure, to a staggering £4,699,000,000.00 in 2007, according to government published figures. In 2007 the UK will contribute £12.6B to Europe, receive back £4.4B in grants and £3.5B in rebate, leaving a net cost to the British taxpayer of £4.7B, almost £100 million per week! All of which makes us a top paymaster of Europe, second only to Germany in net contributions.
When added to this is the £6B cost to business, which HMG recently confirmed arises from complying with EU regulation, then the price of belonging to the EU is crippling.
Commenting Jim Allister said, “As the EU expands, the burden of paymaster of Europe on the UK is becoming unbearable. The drain on our national resources is phenomenal, particularly when you realise that we have been a huge net contributor every year since we joined 34 years ago. How much longer are we going to go on pouring billions into the black hole that is Brussels, before it is realised we’d be better off out. The real question is not whether we could afford to leave but can we afford to stay.
Add to the huge financial cost, the increasing cost in terms of loss of national control, as Brussels extends its powers, and you have a lose, lose for the UK.”
