Sorry, I know this is perhaps old ground, but the suggestion on the bus was quite specious, and just as impossible as the £2000 claim.
Yes, the public were aware that the UK paid into the EU. But the budget contribution (it wasn't a membership fee) was dwarfed by the economic benefit of membership. Membership was basically self-funded.
So, on leaving the EU the UK stopped contributing to the budget while losing considerably more year on year in economic benefit. The idea that there could have been even £0.01 dividend from ceasing budget contributions was a fantasy. Let's say a deliberate lie to exploit the lack of public understanding. There was only ever going to be a huge deficit.
So, of course, when people ask what happened to the money, what happened to the savings... there never was any money or savings.
The idea that the UK paid for EU membership out of public taxation always seemed to me to be a colossal deceit. Presenting it as a membership fee, and with no quid pro quo, was a deliberate lie that most UK politicians advanced. Or was it just old-fashioned ignorance and prejudice?
And “how can we believe their promises” will be a line to take
Sorry, I know this is perhaps old ground, but the suggestion on the bus was quite specious, and just as impossible as the £2000 claim.
Yes, the public were aware that the UK paid into the EU. But the budget contribution (it wasn't a membership fee) was dwarfed by the economic benefit of membership. Membership was basically self-funded.
So, on leaving the EU the UK stopped contributing to the budget while losing considerably more year on year in economic benefit. The idea that there could have been even £0.01 dividend from ceasing budget contributions was a fantasy. Let's say a deliberate lie to exploit the lack of public understanding. There was only ever going to be a huge deficit.
So, of course, when people ask what happened to the money, what happened to the savings... there never was any money or savings.
The idea that the UK paid for EU membership out of public taxation always seemed to me to be a colossal deceit. Presenting it as a membership fee, and with no quid pro quo, was a deliberate lie that most UK politicians advanced. Or was it just old-fashioned ignorance and prejudice?