The UK is to pay a Brexit bill. Lots of people are upset. Extreme leavers reckon we shouldn't have to pay a penny, on the basis that there is no legal reason to do so. Extreme remainers are upset, because as far as they can see, the only tiny upside to Brexit is a small up-front cash saving to serve as a mini-buffer to the financial apocalypse they (still) have no doubt is on the way.
Here at MoneyWeek, we aren't much bothered. Regular readers will know that we worry endlessly about the public finances (for a hint as to why, see James Ferguson's analysis piece). But this Brexit bill doesn't make things much worse. First, if the final bill does turn out to be in the region of €45bn-€55bn (£38bn-£48bn no figure has been confirmed), this really isn't much in the great scheme of the UK's public finances. It's significantly less than the (far too much) we spend on the interest on our debt every year; it is not much more than a third of what we spend on paying the state pension in the UK every year; and it adds up to around 2.5% of one year of our GDP.
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