The European Union has demanded that the UK pay a £60 billion “Divorce Bill” before beginning trade negotiations next year, and Prime Minister Theresa May has signaled that she will be increasing the UK’s initial offer of £20 billion when she heads to negotiations in December. May convened her new Brexit “Inner Cabinet” last week to discuss tactics ahead of December’s European Council meeting.
In addition to this attempt at appeasing Brussels, Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond has pushed for a softer stance on negotiating a trade deal, stating that he expects the “big elements of it will be agreed before March 2019.” May will also attempt to discuss a transition deal after Britain leaves in March 2019.
MEP and former UKIP leader Nigel Farage has called for the end of negotiation talks over the Brexit bill. He and other UKIP leaders have said that there is no legal basis for the EU’s demands, calling them “blackmail.” Farage has said he does not believe the UK is obligated to bail the EU out of its debt, especially without a free trade deal. Farage also believes that if May were to go along with the EU’s “unreasonable” demands, the conservative grassroots would not be pleased and the move would, therefore, be costly to conservatives politically.
Sir James Dyson has also said Britain should “walk away” from the EU without a deal. As an entrepreneur, Dyson has had to deal with EU governments and has said that in his experience it is best to ignore their demands because eventually, they will need the business relationship.
Annual audits of the EU have exposed billions of UK taxpayer dollars being wasted on errors, fraud, and sky-high salaries and perks for Brussels bureaucrats. Since joining the EU, British taxpayers have paid over £1 billion per month to the EU budget. They have also provided £3 billion to the EU to bail out Ireland in November 2010 and £3.5 billion to bail out Portugal in May 2011.