£50bn to leave the EU. What an unforgivable waste of money
Well, at least the City folks like it. The pound shot up in value on the news that Britain is ready to settle its European bill to the tune of £50bn or more, as investors dared to glimpse some light at the end of the Brexit tunnel. Their hope is the same as Theresa May’s: that once Britain has agreed to pay up in full – including for liabilities stretching decades into the future – the remaining 27 EU leaders will allow the Brexit talks to move away, at last, from the terms of the divorce settlement, and on to the future relationship between the UK and the rest of Europe.
May should bask in the delight of those foreign exchange traders, because theirs may be the only applause she gets. The likely reactions from everyone else will range from grudging to outright hostile.
The most obvious howl of disapproval can already be heard from the Brexiteer right. Nigel Farage reacted to earlier reports that May was prepared to offer Brussels the lesser sum of £40bn by branding it a “complete and utter sellout” that “will unite the British people in disgust”. (We can guess how he’d view British willingness to pay out even more.) The former Ukip leader wrote in the Daily Telegraph that it made no sense to fork out such huge sums in return for the mere promise of decent EU-UK trade arrangements. His preferred option? “Lets call it quits. It’s time for us to simply walk away.”
That’s found an echo on the phone-in shows, as leave voters fume that the EU can “go whistle” – to quote Boris Johnson – and Britain should not pay up. Better to have no deal than a deal that costs that much.
On the remain side of the great British divide, there will be more backing for May’s payout, and moderate remainers – especially those within the Tory ranks, who have reconciled themselves to British departure from the EU and now want to see the softest possible Brexit – will surely defend it. Aware that no deal would be a catastrophe for Britain, they want an agreement and are willing to pay the price.
But those remainers who feel no obligation to defend this government have every right to be as appalled by this £50bn bill as Farage and co. They – we – can see that it’s necessary for a club member to honour their debts as they leave after 44 years of membership. But, boy, what an unforgivable waste of money.
For let’s remind ourselves of the basic truth here. We’ll be paying this money for the privilege of not being in the European club. Cabinet minister Chris Grayling this morning tried to defend the bill by contrasting it with the billions the UK currently sends to Brussels. But there’s a big difference, Chris. We get something for those billions. Now we’ll be forking out £50bn for nothing, for the right to sit in splendid isolation – cut off from our closest neighbours, trading with them on inferior terms that will cost us dear.
Chuka Umunna is right. This bill will stand as a “whopping great symbol” of the false prospectus on which Brexit was sold. Johnson, Farage and the others pretended that Britain could exit the EU cost-free, that we would pay nothing, that, on the contrary, we would pocket £350m a week. That was always a lie. The Brexit that leave voters were promised is impossible – and this reluctant concession by May confirms it.
• Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist
May should bask in the delight of the traders, because theirs may be the only applause she gets