After three years of political chaos and almost half a century of subservience, the will of 17.4 million people will finally be respected on January 31. Britain is about to leave the EU – and, even if Big Ben might not be bonging to mark the historic moment, Brexiteers around the country are celebrating taking back control of our sovereignty and laws. Britain will also free itself of the hefty financial contribution it makes to the EU budget every year – meaning it will be able to spend more money on internal affairs. 

According to figures from the House of Commons Library, since Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath took Britain into the European Economic Community (EEC) – the precursor to the EU – in 1973, total UK payments to the EU budget amounted to £215billion when adjusted for inflation.

The UK is a net contributor to the EU budget, which means that it contributes more than it receives back from it.

Germany, with a net contribution of €12.8billion (£11billion), was the largest contributor in 2017, followed by the UK, with €7.43billion (£6.55billion).

As the bulk of the EU budget is spent on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which supports farmers’ incomes, countries with a large agricultural sector generally get more back than they put in.

And if it was not for Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s yearly “donations” to the bloc would have been even higher. 

The Iron Lady famously negotiated a reduction of two-thirds in the UK’s net contribution in 1984, on the grounds that agricultural subsidies favoured small farmers and Britain has very few.

She banged on the table and demanded “our own money back'” during a summit with European leaders in Fontainebleau, France.

However, after Tony Blair agreed to a cut, the rebate fell from £5.4billion in 2009 to only £3.3billion in 2013, figures published by the Financial Times showed. 

In addition, total payments from the UK rose from £14.1billion to £17.2billion.

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At the time, then Ukip leader Nigel Farage questioned whether Britain could afford to remain in the European club. 

He told MailOnline: “Thank you Mr Blair for sacrificing a large chunk of the British rebate in return for absolutely nothing.

“Much of the money that has come back to Britain has been used to make rich landowners richer (through the Common Agriculture Policy).

“The question is no longer can we afford to leave, it is can we afford to stay?”

Robert Oxley, of the campaign group Business for Britain, also echoed Mr Farage’s eurosceptic sentiments.

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He said at the time: “We’ve been pouring more and more money into the EU every year, only to see far too much of it squandered.

“Tony Blair threw away much of our rebate in return for empty promises of reform that never materialised.

“It’s about time Brussels curbed its spending, rather than making extra demands on the UK because our economy is growing.”

During the transition period, until 2020, the UK will pay into the EU budget almost as if it were a member state. 

The UK will also receive funding from EU programmes – such as structural funding – as if it were a member state.  

The UK will contribute towards the EU’s outstanding commitments until December 31, 2020. 

Recipients in the UK will also receive funding for outstanding commitments made to them.

The UK will share the financing of some EU liabilities at the end of 2020, and any materialising contingent liabilities, and will receive back a share of some assets. 

The pensions of EU staff are likely to be the most significant liabilities for the UK, while the most significant item being returned to the UK is the capital it paid into the European Investment Bank (EIB).

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