Unless Stokes innings has affected my brain, the 39 billion divorce settlement which Johnston says we do not have to pay in the event of no-deal, is in fact already being paid.

I read some time ago it had been signed off and due to the first date of 31st March, had already started.

Nah, just making it up as he goes along !!!

We have essentially been forced to listen to the same political talking points for the past three years so the actual details, unfortunately become a footnote rather than a headline. So who knows!

I 'think' though that the divorce bill, is what it says on the tin. This bill is for when we leave, and covers the EUs interpretation of what we owe for existing obligations, past and future. You're right though, in that as result of Brexit dragging on we have been in the EU longer than expectated and so logically will have already paid in ongoing fashion for some of these apparent obligations anyway.

Edited by dollardays (26 Aug 2019 12.11pm)

This apparently is the basis for the bill:

'In March 2018, the UK's Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) published the UK's economic and fiscal outlook including details of the financial settlement which it estimated at £37.1 billion (€41.4 billion).[31][26] The estimated settlement was made up of:

£16.4bn (€18.5bn) towards the UK’s contribution to the EU budget to December 2020 (after offsetting for the UK rebate);
£18.2bn (€20.2bn) towards outstanding commitments for projects that have been signed off but not yet paid for by 2020 (The Reste à Liquider ("RAL" from successive Multiannual Financial Frameworks) to be paid up to 2028; and
£2.5bn (€2.7bn) for other financial liabilities, being an estimate for pension liabilities of €9.5bn offset by other assets totalling €6.8bn.[26] The payments towards the pension liabilities are estimated to be made until 2064.[26]

The OBR's updated estimate of the financial settlement in March 2019 was £37.8 billion (€41.8 billion).[3]

The UK would continue to benefit from all programmes as before the withdrawal until their closure under the condition that it respects the applicable EU legal rules'

I'm unsure of whether they're expecting us to pay even if we leave. To my mind when we're no longer in the EU and hence no longer part of many of these projects and commitments we shouldn't be on the hook for payments towards them.

Edited by dollardays (26 Aug 2019 12.14pm)

At least this way there is an incentive to fashion a deal that actually works for us. Or if not, pull the plug. The trouble with the last three years is that Theresa May was so conflicted and weak on the idea of delivering Brexit that she was a walk over in negotiations. With a different leader over that period, I'm pretty sure there would have been a better deal on the table.

Cheers Matov! We can always rely on you to bring the Brexit knowledge.