Brexit bill could exceed projected $55B ceiling
london — The UK’s Brexit payments to the European Union could exceed the £39 billion ($55 billion) ceiling of the Treasury’s estimate, the government auditor said, reviving discussion about one of the most controversial elements of December’s divorce agreement.
Prime Minister Theresa May at the end of last year reached agreement with her 27 EU counterparts on the draft terms of an exit deal, that included payments from Britain to EU coffers totaling £35 to £39 billion.
The Brexit bill, though unpalatable to the most ardent Brexit supporters in May’s Conservatives, was presented as a UK victory, because figures as high as €100 billion ($124 billion) had been cited during the talks.
But the final tally may yet exceed the government estimate because it’s based on Treasury assumptions, according to a report by the National Audit Office. Small changes to any of those assumptions — which include exchange rates and Britain’s economic performance — may lead the final bill to fall outside the stated range, it said, without providing a fresh estimate.
The government’s spending adviser, the Office for Budget Responsibility, last month estimated that final payments — stretching as far as 2064 — will total £37.1 billion.
The office said that while the Treasury’s estimate was “reasonable”, a number of factors could lead the final bill to differ. — Bloomberg