The European Union has told British Prime Minister Keir Starmer that the UK must make annual payments of approximately £1 billion (€1.16 billion) into EU budgets in exchange for deeper access to the bloc’s Single Market, in what would be the first such direct contribution since Brexit.
According to UK newspaper The Times, European negotiators have made the financial contribution a condition of any further integration as part of the PM’s “EU reset”.
The figure is modelled on Switzerland’s payments but scaled up to reflect the UK’s economy, which is about four times larger.
One senior European diplomat told the paper: “If the UK wants further integration, they must ‘pay to play’. That is not unusual.”
Brussels is said to favour a Swiss-style arrangement that would tie Britain into contributing to EU funds aimed at reducing economic, social and territorial disparities across the bloc.
The demand is expected to be raised in principle at a UK-EU summit this summer, ahead of more detailed negotiations.
Downing Street has not confirmed the exact figure but has signalled that Starmer views closer economic ties with the EU as being in Britain’s national interest.
The government said it did not want to comment on ongoing negotiations.
In March, European leaders agreed that for the UK to participate in the EU’s single market for electricity for the first time since Brexit, it would need to contribute to the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF).
EU leaders are said to be weary of the UK cherry-picking the most beneficial parts of the free market.
The proposal has triggered immediate criticism from Brexit supporters.
Shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel said Starmer was “unpicking Brexit and planning another undemocratic hit job on British taxpayers”.
“Once again, this weak Prime Minister goes to the negotiating table, comes home empty-handed, having fleeced hard pressed taxpayers with his terrible judgment,” she said yesterday.
Reform UK and Conservative Party figures have accused the government of stealthily rejoining elements of the EU without a mandate and call it a betrayal of the 2016 referendum result.
Supporters of closer ties argue that the payments would be offset by economic gains from reduced trade barriers, particularly in sectors such as food, energy, and services.
Critics, though, point out that the UK would have no say over how the contributed funds are spent and limited influence over the rules it would have to follow.
The development comes amid Starmer’s broader push for warmer relations with Brussels, including talks on joining the EU’s £78 billion (€90 billion) loan package for Ukraine and greater defence co-operation.
It marks the most explicit financial ask from the EU since Britain left the bloc.
