The black hole of Brussels: Ministers have no clue what the billions of pounds in post-Brexit payments to EU have been spent on

Ministers have no idea what the majority of post-Brexit payments to Brussels have been spent on, a ‘Daily Mail’ investigation reveals.

Just a fraction of the billions handed to Eurocrats since Britain left the European Union has been accounted for, with the rest poured into a 'Brussels black hole'.

An audit of EU documents reveals that last year only about 8 per cent of the UK's contributions were ringfenced to pay for specific schemes.

For 2023, 2022 and 2021, the percentages were 2.8 per cent, 2.3 per cent and less than 1 per cent respectively. The rest went into a general pot.

In documents unearthed by this newspaper, EU officials have referred to this as the 'principle of universality' – with Brexit negotiator Maros Sefcovic admitting most of the cash has been handed over 'without any specific link between a given item of revenue and a given item of expenditure... The only exception are the UK contributions to the access to the IT systems and pensions.'

It is significant because former prime minister Theresa May said that the Brexit divorce bill which the UK agreed to pay to the EU was for specific 'commitments made during our membership'.

However, there is no proof the money has gone towards those things.

Frank Furedi, director of the think-tank MCC Brussels, said: 'This is nothing short of a scandal.

'Billions of pounds of taxpayers' money has vanished into a Brussels black hole, and our own ministers can't even say where it's gone.'

It has raised fears that the cash has helped to fund the mistakes of bungling Brussels bureaucrats, who have misspent £25billion on aid projects in recent years, according to EU audits.

‘The Daily Mail’ revealed that the payments to Brussels are on course to hit £50billion, after ministers handed over £3.25billion last year.

Of that, just €280million went towards the EU's pensions bill and €700,000 was for accessing and maintaining IT systems.

Britain has paid the bloc £44billion since 2020, according to the Office for National Statistics.

This includes payments made during a transition period in 2020, when Britain remained in the single market and customs union.

The Government has committed to paying £8billion more under the exit deal.

A Treasury spokesman said payments 'reflect legal obligations from the deal made by the previous government'.

British taxpayers’ cash sent to Brussels since Brexit has “vanished into a black hole” with critics warning that it was like “giving money to a drug-addicted junkie”. Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said ministers should stop handing over billions to the EU until there is full transparency over where the money has gone.

He told the ‘Express’: “British civil servants and ministers should not hand over any money to Brussels unless there is full accountability and transparency. Otherwise, it would be like giving money to a drug-addicted junkie without knowing how it is being spent. The EU has a notorious reputation for funding unnecessary projects and wasting taxpayers’ money.”

His remarks came after a ‘Daily Mail’ investigation revealed that ministers had "no idea" what had happened to the majority of the money handed to Brussels after the UK left the European Union.

Only ‘a fraction’ of the money has reportedly been accounted for, following an audit of EU documents which showed that only around 8% of UK contributions had been ringfenced to pay for specific EU schemes.

Mark Francois, chairman of the European Research Group, said: “British taxpayers have a right to know how the payments we made to Brussels to fulfil our legacy EU obligations after leaving the EU have been spent.”

He added: “Labour’s Europhile ministers should be able to access this information via diplomatic channels – and the sooner they come up with the answer, the better.”

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