Boris: cash saving from Brexit is millions more than estimated

‘There was an error on the side of the bus,’ claims Foreign Secretary, alluding to campaign promise

THE Leave campaign’s claim that £350million a week would be saved by Britain leaving the EU was “grossly underestimated”, Boris Johnson said last night.

The Foreign Secretary said the UK’S weekly gross contribution to the EU would in fact rise to £438million by the end of a post-brexit transition period, as he continued to pledge the NHS would be “top of the list” when the spare cash becomes available.

His claims, in an interview with the

Guardian, threatened to reignite the row with Remain voters who claimed Leavers were tricked by the promise into voting for Brexit, after the figure was printed on the side of a campaign bus.

But Mr Johnson, who insisted the UK’S EU contribution was already up to £362 million and set to rise annually through to 2020-21, said: “There was an error on the side of the bus. We grossly underestimated the sum over which we would be able to take back control.”

His remarks come on the day when it emerged freedom of movement in Britain could continue for up to two years after Brexit, if British negotiators cave to fresh demands from Brussels ahead of talks over an UK-EU transition deal.

The bloc wants EU citizens arriving in the UK before 2021 to be allowed to live and work in the UK indefinitely as the price for a Brexit transition period. Theresa May must secure a transition to reassure anxious businesses, but agreeing to the demand risks the fury of Brexiteers who want March 29 2019 to spell the end of freedom of movement in Britain.

Capitulation would mean an extra 18 months to two years of unlimited EU migration, with people arriving benefiting from the same protected status as EU citizens living in Britain before “Brexit Day”.

Draft instructions for Michel Barnier, the EU’S chief negotiator, have revealed the bloc’s toughened stance ahead of transition period talks.

The transition agreement will come into force after Brexit Day, effectively “deep-freezing” the UK’S membership of the single market and customs union for about two years, giving businesses and the government time to prepare for departure.

In December, the UK and European Commission agreed that EU citizens living in Britain before the cut-off date would have their residency rights protected after Brexit.

The EU now wants the cut-off date to be pushed back to the end of the transition period and the special status for EU citizens extended to those arriving in the UK before the last day of transition at the end of 2020.

People arriving in Britain after Brexit but before 2021 could stay and work in the UK indefinitely.

Central and Eastern European countries, including Poland, are behind the demand, according to the Financial Times.