Britain will keep paying money to the European Union until 2064 – almost 50 years after the referendum, the UK’s economic forecaster has said.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) predicts that Britain will hand over a total of £37.1 billion after it quits the EU next year.
Annual payments will continue well into the 2060s, mainly because the UK has to keep paying towards the pensions of people who are currently employed by the EU.
The figures were revealed in an OBR document published alongside chancellor Philip Hammond’s Spring Statement on Tuesday.
A Treasury spokesman insisted the payments after the mid-2020s are "very, very small amounts" compared with what the UK is paying the EU at the moment.
He said it was an advantage that Britain would "not have to pay anything to the EU earlier than it would have" if it remained a member.
Brill OBR chart on how the Brexit bill works over next 50 years. Until 2030, UK rakes in cash, as assets in the form of UK-backed loans via the EIB and other programs are repaid. And then the bumper Eurocrat pension bill kicks in. https://t.co/fmbIXMunUh
Anti-Brexit campaigners quickly jumped on the news.
MUST-WATCH: we now know we'll be paying billions to the EU until 2064 for a worse relationship than we have now. Brexiters told us that we wouldn't pay a penny. As new facts come to light about Brexit, people have every right to change their minds. Please RT: https://t.co/zYYZe4X1KN
However, their outrage was shared by the pro-Leave website Westmonster:
BONKERS: Bumper Brexit bill means UK would still be handing EU money until 2064. No Deal, no Brexit bill. 🤔https://t.co/jgxBzyxXvZ
Labour MP Chuka Umunna, a spokesperson for pro-EU group Open Britain, said: "The Brextremists promised us an additional £350 million for the NHS paid for out of our contributions to the EU – yet we now know that if Brexit goes ahead we’ll be paying money to the EU until 2064 and there won’t be an extra penny for our health service."
Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage, a prominent Leaver, said: "The British public voted for a clean break, not a financial deal that will last until their own children are pensioners."