A prominent campaigner for Britain to leave the European Union has claimed the U.K. would gain billions if it left the EU.
Dominic Cummings, chief executive of the Vote Leave campaign has said that he couldn't estimate the precise gains the U.K. would make after leaving but there would be "a lot of money to go round" to spend on domestic priorities like the NHS.
As the lead campaign for Britain to leave the EU in its membership referendum on June 23, Vote Leave estimates that the EU costs Britain £350 million every week. Cummings defended this figure and said that "tens of billions" of savings could come the U.K.'s way on top of this if it left the bloc, thanks to reduced energy costs and freedom from EU procurement rules.
"There are huge amounts of ways in which the EU costs us money," he said. "At some point in the campaign we will be totting this all up and we will send you a copy of the full bill."
Cummings was speaking during a tense hearing with the Commons Treasury Select Committee, in which he clashed repeatedly with chair Andrew Tyrie and other committee members.
At one point Tyrie said that Cummings's promises of money sounded like "Aladin's Cave," and Helen Goodman, a Labour MP, took such issue with his evasive answers that she reminded him that "parliamentary sovereignty" was supposed to be a key focus of his campaign―to general laughter in the room.
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About the writer
Josh is a staff writer covering Europe, including politics, policy, immigration and more.
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