EU ‘costs Britain £106,117 a minute’
EU membership costs Britain £106,117 a minute, or £55 billion this year alone, according to a eurosceptic group operating in Brussels.
The Bruges Group, which conducted research into EU costs with Ukip MEP Gerard Batten, found the UK made total contributions to the European Community budget of £230 billion gross, or £68 billion net.
Among the figures quoted in the report, the Bruges Group calculated the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) costs the UK £16.8 billion a year.
The cost of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) was found to be £3.275 billion.
But a substantial portion of the £55 billion figure comes from what the group calls ‘over-regulation’. When politics.co.uk contacted Bruges Group director Robert Oulds, he cited the stifling effect of EU regulation on British businesses as a major contributing factor for the figure.
But it is unclear exactly which EU regulations the group considered unnecessary.
“If it wasn’t regulating so excessively there would be less burden on businesses,” Mr Oulds told politics.co.uk.
“Some people think the figure could be even higher but were being more cautious.”
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