Lord Football
Blues on Tour
My take on the 'Divorce Bill' is that whilst it cannot legally be enforced, the UK will have a duty towards certain schemes / projects etc and it is likely that some interests might well be worth keeping hold of.
I doubt that even the most fervent remainer is able to explain or breakdown how the EU arrives at figures that have been anywhere between 30 - 100 billion Euro's.
Ultimately there is a fine dividing line between what can be considered a 'liability', against what may be termed a commitment ...I disagree with Lord Footballs use of the word debt.
If the UK has liabilities then in turn it can only follow the EU has also, a good example would be UK capital held in the ECB.
My personal view would be to offer 30 billion less their liabilities towards us...and also to include 2 years transition.
Or to let the whole matter go to a 3rd party body to adjudicate on what if any the UK should pay.
There may be some legally niceties around not paying the "divorce bill". It may not be legally enforceable. But, we wont be getting a free trade deal or access to any free markets or any transition without us making some form of payment agreement. That's pretty much already been said by D Davies.
You are right to disagree with my use of the word debt, I was attempting to keep this simple. So.... "Commitments" would have been a better word.
The debt, ie what we owe in "own resources" is a completely different thing and to the best of my knowledge not included in the "divorce bill".
Neither figure can, at this stage, be accurately identified. The EU seem to be putting the divorce bill in the region of €36bn and that's likely to be the starting point for negotiations. I gather, the UK Government's own figure isn't much difference from this (but I cannot for the life of me remember where I read that).
Not sure what this 3rd Party would be you refer to. The ECJ adjudicate on all matters EU, and we wont be recognising that. You can imagine the furore from the likes of Rees-Mogg if we left it up to them!!!