{"id":545274,"date":"2025-11-03T01:25:21","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T01:25:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/545274\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T01:25:21","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T01:25:21","slug":"the-black-hole-of-brussels-ministers-have-no-clue-what-the-billions-of-pounds-in-post-brexit-payments-to-eu-have-been-spent-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/545274\/","title":{"rendered":"The black hole of Brussels: Ministers have no clue what the billions of pounds in post-Brexit payments to EU have been spent on"},"content":{"rendered":"

By DAVID CHURCHIL CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT <\/p>\n

Published: 19:19 EDT, 2 November 2025 | Updated: 19:26 EDT, 2 November 2025 <\/p>\n

Ministers\u00a0have no idea what the majority of post-Brexit payments to Brussels have been spent on, a Daily Mail investigation reveals.<\/p>\n

Just a fraction of the billions handed to Eurocrats since Britain left the European Union<\/a> has been accounted for, with the rest poured into a ‘Brussels black hole’.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

In documents unearthed by this newspaper, EU officials have referred to this as the ‘principle of universality’ \u2013 with Brexit<\/a> 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.’<\/p>\n

It is significant because former prime minister Theresa May<\/a> said that the Brexit divorce bill which the UK agreed to pay to the EU was for specific ‘commitments made during our membership’.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, there is no proof the money has gone towards those things.<\/p>\n

Frank Furedi, director of the think-tank MCC Brussels, said: ‘This is nothing short of a scandal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Ministers <\/p>\n

Ministers have no idea what the majority of post-Brexit payments to Brussels have been spent on, a Daily Mail investigation reveals. Pictured:\u00a0Hand drawing a red line between the UK and the rest of the European Union<\/p>\n

‘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.’<\/p>\n

It has raised fears that the cash has helped to fund the mistakes of bungling Brussels bureaucrats, who have misspent \u00a325billion on aid projects in recent years, according to EU audits.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Mail revealed on Saturday that the payments to Brussels are on course to hit \u00a350billion, after ministers handed over \u00a33.25billion last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Of that, just \u20ac280million went towards the EU’s pensions bill and \u20ac700,000 was for accessing and maintaining IT systems.<\/p>\n

Britain has paid the bloc \u00a344billion since 2020, according to the Office for National Statistics.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This includes payments made during a transition period in 2020, when Britain remained in the single market and customs union.<\/p>\n

The Government has committed to paying \u00a38billion more under the exit deal.<\/p>\n

A Treasury spokesman said payments ‘reflect legal obligations from the deal made by the previous government’.<\/p>\n

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