The divorce bill alone is now reaching a staggering £55 Billion – £55,000,000,000. More than we spend on defence!! A third of what we spend on the NHS!
Defence spending per annum – £45 Billion
NHS spending – £180 Billion
Education spending – £86 Billion
I don’t remember being told this was the case during the referendum campaign. We were told there was to be £350 million a week to spend on the NHS not a huge black hole.
The cost of staying in the EU, with all its benefits, is just £8 Billion a year.
That means that it is 7 years before we break even!
On top of that we have the huge cost of all the lawyers, bureaucrats and additional people that need to be employed to sort the mess out and cover all the expenses and extra tasks. Then we have the tariffs and cost of setting up trade deals. The extra costs of setting up customs and reorganising all our collaborations. I bet the cost of that is as much as the divorce bill.
Far from saving us money this is going to impoverish the country for years to come and you can bet your arse it isn’t going to be the rich or politicians who suffer. They’ll make a killing as usual. This is going to hit schools, hospitals and the poor again.
If you believe in democracy, now we know the true cost, it is time we cut our losses and had another vote.
We were lied to. This madness has to stop. Our children deserve better.
Agreeing to that… May must be crazy
The whole Brexit thing is crazy. The cost is astronomical. So much for austerity! We’ll all be paupers.
I have got very different opinions on Brexit but paying that to leave a club is plain ludicrous
I agree Simon. I was opposed from the start but this makes it plain ridiculous.
Makes you feel like the whole world has gone crazy, doesn’t it? I was quite staggered when I saw that amount in a news story this morning.
It is utter madness. The costs are going to be astronomical. They have been haggling over the cost of a High Speed Train Network to the north of England all of which is cheaper than what they are proposing to give to the EU. Why? The only reason is that it will give more power to our politicians. They are power mad.
i think hunter-gatherer societies make more sense frankly!
Me too. That is much more our natural way of life. Trouble is that there are far, far too many of us for that.
You are calling my Vote Invalid, and it was not. When you voted Labour and Tony Blair into power I don’t recall any cries saying that we needed another vote, from anyone. Your vote would have been valid and nothing anyone who opposed those that voted for Blair could do about it. I, like millions, voted for Brexit, the vote was legitimate then as it is now, there is no need for another vote at any time. What they hell are the pinkos and damn do gooders doing to this country, good God once the English were a proud race, not now – its all simmering out there on the streets just a matter of time before it all spills over.
Not us doing it Anna. The hatred has not been stirred up by us.
When the Brexit vote happened we were not told about a bill of £55 Billion. We were promised Billions for the NHS – £350 Million a week.
When the campaign ran we were not told about the costs of disentangling ourselves – the armies of lawyers and bureaucrats and all the extra costs of running all those agencies on our own. How many billions are going to be wasted on that?
When the referendum campaign ran we were not told that we’d have to follow the same rules as Europe anyway because of trade. We were told we’d have freedom. But our sovereignty is a sham.
We weren’t told that voting out would bankrupt the country and leave our children poorer and that we’d become a lesser nation whose importance around the world was greatly diminished.
We were lied to.
I voted in for good reasons. I don’t have the fear of Muslims and terrorists that the far-right ratcheted up. I wanted a better Britain.
Now we know the picture I think we need democracy to decide.
That’s what happens with governments – we vote them in or out. They’re not in forever.
Brexit will break this country.
My goodness – what an awful cost for nebulous nationalist goals! I agree that you guys should have a second referendum, but why the hell didn’t the anti-Brexit people provide these cost estimates during the campaign? If no one could know these costs at the time of the referendum campaign, I’m dying to know why not.
I think it was a mixture of complacency and incompetence. They didn’t take it seriously. All the people who spoke out were labelled Project Fear and they allowed the far-right to set the agenda.
If we had had all the reality of what it would cost, the impact on our economy, the isolation, hatred and division and that we’d still be tied in to the EU for trade, I can’t see anyone voting for it. There was just so much anger and fury at the austerity we’ve suffered and disillusionment with politicians, the terrorism and mass immigration, the right-wing was able to direct it against the EU and deflect it from themselves.
What a mess.
For the same reason the republicans have been lying through their teeth about how their budget will affect the middle/low-income classes. Even after their own government statistics came out that it was all a lie. I’m really beginning to lose faith in people. I don’t understand how they are helping their constituents with all this bull. We have that government agency to check it. Do you guys have something like that, Opher and John?
Not to my knowledge Cheryl. We do not have an official body to comment on government lies. I find it appalling. All politicians care about is power. They have an ideology that they push and lie, lie, lie, lie. They seem to think we are all so gullible that we can’t see through it. They think they can get away with it if they say it often enough. The trouble is that the voting patterns show that we are gullible.
Now here’s an interesting situation – Brexiteers and Remainers both agreeing that the leaving bill is too high. Answer – another referendum on whether to pay it. The result will be No. There will then need to be a further referendum on whether to leave or stay. Those voting leave will be the hard brexit crowd, happy to pay WTO tariffs, so there will be a majority for staying. Or am I talking tommyrot?
I reckon another straight referendum on whether to stay in or go now that we know something more about the real price, Dave. That’s democracy. We have a right to change our minds if it looks horribly wrong. The country surely must come first. What we need are politicians with the balls to stand up and say that.
Yeah, Opher, I’d settle for that!
Me too. Let’s hope sanity prevails.