UK Foreign Secretary Refutes Large Payments for EU Market Access After Brexit

UK payments to the European Union, in return for access to the European Single Market, need not be large after the country's exit from the European bloc, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Sunday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — UK Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union David Davis, on Thursday, said the possibility of making contributions to the European Union after Brexit in order to retain the access to the European Single Market had not been ruled out.

"I see no reason why those payments should be large. As I say, I do see a big opportunity to take the money we are getting back and spend it on other priorities," Johnson told the BBC.

He added that no decision had been made regarding this, but that London "will be able to take back control of the money we currently give to Brussels," and spend it on priorities such as the National Health Service.

On June 23, the United Kingdom chose in a referendum to leave the European Union. UK Prime Minister Theresa May stated that the country would trigger Article 50 of the EU Lisbon Treaty by the end of March 2017, thus starting withdrawal negotiations.

A number of EU leaders have stated that the United Kingdom will lose its access to the Single Market unless it keeps freedom of movement rules. May, meanwhile, suggested at the Conservative Party conference in early October that the country’s exit from the European Union would be a "hard" rather than "soft" Brexit, meaning that control over immigration would be prioritized over the access to the European Single Market.