The net cost of the EU budget to Britain in 2011 was £10.8 billion and rising. But the actual cost - direct and indirect - is much more than that.
Last time it was calculated, in 2008, the European Union was costing us £65 billion gross every year. That's about £1,000 each every year for every man, woman and child in the UK. It increases every year, so it will be a lot more now.
Estimates of the true cost of the EU are difficult to come by. MPs have called many times for a cost-benefit analysis, to prove or disprove the benefits of membership. Successive Governments, both Labour and Conservative, have refused, on the grounds that the "benefits" are self-evident. In truth they are afraid of what such a study would show. The Bruges Group finally produced an authoritative study in 2008.
(http://www.brugesgroup.com/CostOfTheEU2008.p
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The total gross cost to the UK of EU membership in 2008 they estimate at around £65,000,000,000* - including:
£28 billion for business to comply with EU regulations,
£17 billion of additional food costs resulting from the Common Agricultural Policy
£3.3 billion - the value of the catch lost when the Common Fisheries Policy let other countries fish in our territorial waters
£14.6 billion gross paid into the EU budget and other EU funds. (In 2011 this had risen to £19 billion)
It gets worse each year. Used better, this sum could transform the UK - increase pensions, recruit more doctors, nurses, teachers and police, build advanced transport systems and start paying off the national debt.
*Even allowing for the UK rebate, which the EU wants to stop. Sources: Bruges Group report: "How Much Does the EU Cost Britain?", UK Office of National Statistics, British Government Regulatory Impact Assessments, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, World TradeOrganisation, OECD, Eurostat, European Commission.
anyone still want to belong ?