Britain will have sent nearly £24bn to the European Union in post-Brexit payments by next April, Treasury watchdog reveals

• A total of £23.6billion will have been paid as part of the Brexit divorce bill 

Britain will have handed over nearly £24billion in post-Brexit payments to Brussels by April next year, according to the Treasury watchdog.

A total of £23.6billion will have been paid as part of the divorce bill for leaving the bloc by the end of this financial year, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecasts.

The sum, which was buried in OBR documents published alongside Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement on Wednesday, would be enough to cut income tax by at least 3p.

The watchdog said £8.3billion was sent to Brussels in 2021/22. It estimates that a further £8.8billion was handed over in 22/23 and that £6.5billon will be in 2023/24. Payments then fall to around £1billion a year on average for three years.

Brussels has demanded an extra £2.2billion annually from January to be a member of Horizon, the EU’s scientific programme.

Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith (pictured) said: ‘After this year we should tell Brussels ‘that’s your lot, we’re not paying a penny more’

It comes after a report last month by the bloc’s financial watchdog found that billions of pounds in EU funds are increasingly being mis-spent.

The European Court of Auditors (ECA) said around £7billion was paid out in error in 2022, including on aid projects. Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: ‘After this year we should tell Brussels ‘that’s your lot, we’re not paying a penny more’. Things have changed since we left and we now need to spend this money at home.’

The payments relate to the bill for leaving the EU, which Britain agreed to pay under the Withdrawal Agreement after exiting the EU’s institutions in January 2020.

Britain will have handed over nearly £24billion in post-Brexit payments to Brussels by April next year, according to the Treasury watchdog. Pictured: European Parliament in Strasbourg

Payments will continue until around 2064 for items like pensions. By then, the total settlement could exceed £40billion. The bulk of the bill will have been settled within the first five years of leaving.

John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘Taxpayers are sick of the gargantuan levels of waste. From Brussels to Birmingham, precious funds are going awry. All levels of government should hand back power and cash to those who know how to spend it best, namely households.’

• Sir Keir Starmer has picked the EU anthem as the piece of music that best ‘sums up the Labour Party’. The Labour leader praised the ‘sense of destiny’ in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, which includes the choral Ode to Joy. A source close to Sir Keir said: ‘It is well documented he has always listened to Beethoven – his choice has nothing to do with his opinions on the EU.’

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