Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
£5BN COST IF BREXIT IS PUT OFF INTO 2021
Extra bill for a long transition
A BREXIT transition beyond 2020 could cost the UK another £5billion, ministers have been warned.
Brussels wants a deadline of December 31, 2020, after Britain quits the bloc next March.
But the Prime Minister has demanded an implementation period of “around two years”.
Sir Bill Cash, veteran Tory and chair of the European Scrutiny Committee, yesterday said it could mean paying into the EU’S new budget from 2021.
He said: “Additional costs could run into billions, the estimate is between £4billion and £5billion.”
It came as Theresa
May held crunch SOME 130,000 EU citizens have quit the UK, the most in 10 years.
While 220,000 citizens came here from the bloc in the year to September, down 47,000 on the talks with senior ministers at her country retreat Chequers, near Aylesbury, Bucks, to thrash out a Cabinet position on Brexit. In December, the PM agreed to a divorce bill of £35-39billion, but this only covers the EU budget to the end of 2020. Amnesty International claims Brexit will weaken freedoms such as equality. The charity said: “Hard-won rights are under threat.” previous year, said the Office for National Statistics yesterday.
Lib Dems’ Ed Davey blamed Brexit, adding: “This Brexodus will no doubt leave us poorer.”