Guardian manages to hit side of bus

The size of the UK payment to the EU is back in the news with EU leaks of the size of the 'divorce bill' ( sometimes posing as 'news' as usual). 'Moderates' have explained that £36m or whatever is only reasonable since that is more or less what the UK would be paying anyway, especially if there is a transition period. But that has highlighted the vexed issue of the size of the annual payment again.

The careful path between the issues is charted by the Guardian. It is news because the Government has decided to publish its Brexit policy. Apart from that it is all the usual stuff, with 'textual shifters' providing readers with the right steer:

Businesses have long been pressing for more clarity on the UK’s proposals for replacing the customs union, which allows easy transfer of goods across the borders of EU member states. [of course it also blocks easy transfer for the rest of the world]


The Irish taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, said last week that rather than pressing the EU for special status for Northern Ireland post-Brexit, it would be better if the entire UK remained inside a customs union with Europe.[no doubt he thinks lots of other things would also be  better for Northern Ireland -- like unification?]

Then on to the issue of finance.
 

Günther Oettinger, the EU’s budget commissioner, told Germany’s Bild newspaper in remarks published on Monday that Britain would remain bound by some previous commitments and would “therefore have to transfer funds to Brussels at least until 2020”.

The Treasury still forecasts payments to the EU until 2020 of a totalling [sic]  £31bn, although it said there were no assumptions about whether they would continue. These include a contribution of £9.9bn next year, £10.5bn in £2019 and £10.4bn in 2020.

The Treasury figures also showed the UK’s budget contribution to the EU has fallen to £8.1bn, its lowest level for five years. The sum is the equivalent to £156m a week, which is less than half the £350m a week that was promised by the Vote Leave campaign. The UK’s gross contribution without factoring in its rebate or payments from EU institutions was about £16.9bn, which still only [!!] amounted to £325m a week.

Horribly close to the figure on the side of the bus after all then, even for the lowest payment for 5 years. ? Quick! We need another textual shifter to reassure our readers...

Chuka Umunna, a Labour MP and supporter of Open Britain, said it showed “you shouldn’t believe everything you read on the side of a bus or that you hear from Boris Johnson’s mouth”.