The UK may still have to pay large sums to the EU even after leaving in order to secure better trade deals, it has been reported.
The Leave campaign convinced voters that Britain would save £350 million a week in EU contributions, claiming the money could instead be spent on the NHS.
However, a cabinet minister reportedly told the BBC that the UK may end up “paying quite a lot” of that money back to the EU to retain access to its single market.
They claimed the UK could still end up paying some £5 billion a year into EU coffers.
Theresa May announced at the recent Conservative Party conference that she would be willing to leave the EU’s single market if that were the price of gaining control over immigration.
EU rules state that Britain cannot benefit from free trade in goods, services and capital without the free movement of people.
This has worried ministers and business leaders, who believe remaining the European single market is key to the country’s economic prosperity.
The contributions paid to the EU were one of the most hotly debated issues of the referendum, with Vote Leave’s £350 million a week figure bandied about repeatedly. This is reduced by subsidies paid back to the UK and the budget rebate.
The predicted £5 billion yearly payment is roughly half of what the UK would have contributed as a member state.
Despite Theresa May’s party conference speech, from which commentators derived the UK was heading for a “hard Brexit”, little is known about her actual plans for migration and trade with the EU.
A government spokesman told Newsnight: "We will not provide a running commentary on our negotiating position, but we have been very clear that all decisions about taxpayers' money should be made in Britain."
