REVEALED: How Brexit stopped the EU from spending a staggering amount of British money from TODAY

It was signed into law on November 27, 2024, by the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola.

The new budget totals €199.4billion (£165.5billion) in commitment appropriations. This is €10billion (£8.3billion) over the 2024 budget, a six per cent increase.

Migration, security and defence will swallow up a substantial amount of the new budget. A significant portion of the budget will also be allocated to shoring up the European Green Deal, aiming to make Europe climate-neutral by 2050.

How much would Britain have coughed up if it had stayed in? 

Britain does not contribute to the EU 2025 budget as a member state due to its exit from the EU on January 31, 2020.

However, the UK might participate in certain EU programmes, which could involve making specific contributions for those programmes, but this would not be part of the general EU budget contribution.

While there are ongoing financial commitments related to the Brexit divorce bill, the UK's regular contributions to the EU budget have ceased.

The UK might make payments for participating in EU initiatives like Horizon Europe or other programmes on a case-by-case basis, but these are not part of the standard EU budget contributions.

So, how much?

The percentage of the EU’s budget paid for by the UK was generally quoted by HM Treasury as having been 12.5 per cent.

However, Facts4EU refutes this figure, claiming that Britain was on the hook for much more, citing, among other things, the EU’s various ‘off-budget funds’, which the UK paid into but which all the poorer countries in the EU did not.

HM Treasury never included these in its calculations of the UK's 'contribution'.

Facts4EU's conservative estimate of a truer figure is 13.5 per cent of the budget, which would equate to £22.3bn pounds this year.

This doesn’t account for the massive liabilities on top of this for the EU’s special fund dealing with Covid and the energy crisis.

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The EU's annual budget has come under fire over the years, with critics accusing the commission of profligacy.

Former Brexit Party MEP and current GB News presenter Martin Daubney has been vocal about his criticisms of the EU's budget.

Discussing the budget for 2020, Martin Daubney wrote on X: "In Strasbourg I just outlined how the EU:

• Misspent €4 billion in 2018
• Yet is asking for €168.3 billion in 2020 - an increase of €2.5 billion from 2019
• Truly 'only fools and horses' would sign off this grotesque budget

#ChangePoliticsForGood @brexitparty_uk"