On Mon, 4 Nov 2013 18:09:37 -0000, "harryagain"
wrote:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_Rebate

Already discussed elsewhere in thread.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...es-18-5bn.html

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/da...t-in-one-year/

You are being disingenuous:

- "There is a jaw-dropping statistic in the new Balance of Payments
figures. As usual, Britain ran a massive trade deficit with the rest
of the EU, only partially offset by its surplus with the rest of the
world. Our current account deficit with the EU in 2010 was £46.6
billion; our surplus with the rest of the world was £10.3 billion.
These figures shouldn't surprise anyone: since 1973, the United
Kingdom has tended to be in surplus with every continent except
Europe."

That is unlikely to change whether or not we are in the EU.

- "Britain’s gross contributions increased partly because of the
decline in the value of the pound against the euro."

Nor necessarily that - in fact it could be construed as an argument
for joining the Euro.

- "The dramatic decline in receipts from the EU results mainly from
a controversial deal struck by Tony Blair to hand back part of the
annual rebate famously secured by Margaret Thatcher in 1984."

That was our own unwise choice presumably made at a time when things
were economically better and we felt we could afford it, you can
hardly blame the EU for biting our hands off in agreement.
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