Sammy Wilson: '˜Bonkers talk from Juncker of a £60bn Brexit fee'

Jean Claude Juncker, the head of the European Union Commission, has said that the UK would have to pay £60 billion to leave the EU.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, seen here in 2015, who has warned that the future relationship between Britain and the European Union will take years to negotiate and the UK can expect a hefty bill as the price of exit. Photo: Suzanne Plunkett/PA WireEuropean Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, seen here in 2015, who has warned that the future relationship between Britain and the European Union will take years to negotiate and the UK can expect a hefty bill as the price of exit. Photo: Suzanne Plunkett/PA Wire
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, seen here in 2015, who has warned that the future relationship between Britain and the European Union will take years to negotiate and the UK can expect a hefty bill as the price of exit. Photo: Suzanne Plunkett/PA Wire

He is bonkers if he thinks there is any chance of such payments being made.

We would be better to leave the EU without any deal than to cave into the extortionate demands by the bad tempered head of the EU who is intent on punishing the people of the UK for daring to stand up to the undemocratic body which he heads.

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Why should the UK carry the outrageous pension costs of EU bureaucrats who awarded themselves pensions which are on average twice the average wage of people living in the UK?

Why should we promise to pay for the £200 billion overspend per year which the commission has landed itself with because it cannot and will not live within its means?

Why should we continue to spend on infrastructure projects for an organisation that we are no longer members of.

EU negotiators have stated that until we give into their attempts to fleece us, there can be no negotiations on trade deals and future relationships with the EU.

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If that is the case then negotiations will be short but since the Europhile Sir Ivan Rogers admitted that the EU would be “nuts” not to come to an agreement with the UK over a future relationship it is very likely that the demand for money with menaces will disappear once negotiations start.

Even the former head of the EU Council on legal services has rubbished the idea that the UK has any legal obligation to make such payments.

He has indicated that it will be rather like buying a carpet in Morocco.

This is more about haggling and the EU chancing its arm than any obligation in law.

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That being the case it is important that the PM stands her ground.

The European Union has squandered enough of the UK taxpayers money we must stop indulging them. Leaving the EU means keeping our own money for our own spending programmes.

There is no doubt that the United Kingdom exit from the EU will hurt its budget since we were the biggest contributors just as the failure to do a trade deal will hurt the economies of EU countries since we are their biggest market.

That is why I am sure that despite the chest thumping once negotiations start we will reach a sensible future trade relationship with the EU.

Sammy Wilson, DUP MP for East Antrim