Conservatives expose £23 billion bombshell cost of Burnham’s EU ‘reset’ to British taxpayers

Andy Burnham's EU reset is set to cost taxpayers billions, the Conservatives have revealed today [Sunday 8th November].

The leaked text of the EU-UK draft agreement shows Labour are planning to sign up to an appropriate level of financial contribution towards reducing economic and social disparities between the regions of the EU (paragraph 47) - EU structural funds in all but name.

Switzerland, which has a similar agreement, ended up paying hundreds of millions into EU schemes that had no direct benefit for Swiss taxpayers. Scaled up to the UK, payments could reach £1.3 billion per year, and fund programmes in countries like Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary. This would mean a bill of £13 billion over the period of Burnham's 10-year plan. In the Swiss case, money was spent on planting trees, purchasing a gondola over a lake, and promoting renewable energy in the Bucharest metro system. 

In addition to the possible £13 billion bill for contributions to reducing economic and social disparities, Labour have already agreed:

• to pay £570 million for Erasmus+ in 2027, which could mean a further £5.7 billion bill over the next decade, with costs possibly even higher.
• for EU students to pay home' tuition fees as British universities meaning taxpayers subsiding EU students - which could cost up to £450 million annually according to some estimates, and £580 million according to the Russell Group. This could total a further £4.5 billion or more over a decade.
• a new, unspecified financial contribution to the EU's Channel Action Plan.

This means British taxpayers face a potential total bill of £23 billion over the next decade- which would be £1220 per working family.

There will also be further costs on top as Labour signs up to other programmes. The draft agreement is just the first stage in what looks set to be a series of expensive concessions to Brussels.

British taxpayers are set to be rinsed by a deal that will trade away sovereignty over vital matters of national security. And all because Andy Burnham is desperate to appease his own left-wing backbenchers, and would rather reopen the debates of a decade ago than tackle the challenges our country faces today.

Kemi Badenoch MP, Leader of the Conservative Party, said:

Now Britain has left the EU, we should continue to negotiate confidently with our European friends. What I see from Burnham is not confidence but weakness. His repeated claims at the despatch box, telling the whole world that Brexit has been bad for the UK, have weakened his negotiating position before he has even got to Brussels. So he is going to the EU as a supplicant and that will cost us all.

We are running out of money, yet Brussels wants British taxpayers to fund development projects in other EU countries as the price of access to its electricity market.

We need our Prime Minister to be strong on the world stage. My worry is that Burnham will let Brussels play him for a fool. He seems so desperate for a deal that he is prepared to let Brussels dictate the terms. He must be prepared to walk away rather than leave British taxpayers billions of pounds worse off just to please his Labour backbenchers.

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

• The draft ties electricity market participation to a UK financial contribution to EU regional funding. Paragraph 47 refers to the linked negotiations for the UK's financial contribution to reducing economic, social and territorial disparities between regions of the EU and states: We agree that the UK's participation in parts of the EU's internal market requires an appropriate level of financial contribution towards reducing economic and social disparities between the regions of the EU that reflects the degree of the UK's participation in the EU's internal market (Draft Joint Statement of the European Union and the United Kingdom, EU-UK Summit, 20 November 2026, paragraph 47).
• The draft provides for a UK financial contribution to the EU's Channel Action Plan. Paragraph 60 states that effective implementation requires a joint effort, including, where appropriate, through a financial contribution by the UK, reflecting the shared responsibility for addressing these challenges (Draft Joint Statement of the European Union and the United Kingdom, EU-UK Summit, 20 November 2026, paragraph 60).

•  Burnham's EU reset deal could see the UK paying £1.3bn per year to the EU. The draft text of the agreement contains a commitment to a "financial contribution to reducing the economic, social and territorial disparities between regions of the EU". The Swiss financial contribution to the same scheme resulted in the Swiss government agreeing to payments of CHF350m (£319m) per year. (Swiss Confederation, Swiss contribution, 19 March 2026, link). Scaled to the size of the UK, this would be the equivalent of £1.3bn per year.

• • The funds paid by Switzerland have been used for planting trees, purchasing a gondola over a lake, and promoting renewable energy in the Bucharest metro system. Swiss EU cohesion funding went, for example to planting 200 trees and purchasing a gondola over a lake in Chodziez, Poland; and promoting renewable energies... in the Bucharest metro system' (Confederatiojn Suisse, Implementing the cohesion component, 3 March 2025, link; Chodziez Municipal Office, accessed 6 November 2026, link, link).
• The UK's Erasmus+ contribution for 2027 is £570 million. The UK contribution for 2027 will be approximately £570 million. This covers the 2027/28 academic year' (CO, Press release, 17 December 2025, link). 
• The Russell Group said restoring home fes for EU students could cost the sector more than £500 million a year. The Russell Group said restoring home fees for EU students would likely cost the higher education sector more than £500 million a year. Hollie Chandler, the Russell Group's director of strategic policy, said that a deal that costs the sector over £500m is not good news for universities (Financial Times, 1 November 2026, link).
• It has been reported that the government is prepared to spend up to £450 million a year to give students from the EU discounted university fees. Ministers are prepared to spend as much as £450m a year to give students from the EU discounted university fees, the Guardian has learned' (The Guardian, 1 November 2026, link).
• The government has confirmed that the UK will contribute to the EU cohesion fund. As per the below Written Parliamentary Questions:

Mike Wood: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 7 September 2026 to Question 21041 on EU Cohesion Fund, whether the European Commission has asked the UK to make payments to the EU Cohesion Fund in any other area.

Hamish Falconer: The UK is not currently contributing to the EU Cohesion Fund. As referred to in the previous response, the EU is seeking to establish a mechanism for an appropriate UK financial contribution towards reducing economic and social disparities between the regions of the EU as part of UK participation in the Internal Electricity Market. Any UK financial contribution would be subject to negotiations with the EU, and no contributions have yet been made or agreed upon. (Hansard, UIN28759, 18 September 2026, link).

Mike Wood: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the answer of 15 April 2026 to Question 123696 on EU Cohesion Fund, for what reason joining the EU electricity market requires payments to reduce economic and social disparities.

Nick Thomas-Symonds: The UK is not currently contributing to EU Cohesion Funds as a consequence of the UK/EU reset. The EU is seeking an appropriate UK financial contribution to the EU's cohesion policy, alongside an electricity agreement. Any UK financial contribution would be subject to negotiations with the EU, and no contributions have yet been made or agreed upon. The government is clear that agreements made with the EU must be in the national interest, and that whilst trade-offs will be required, these are worth making where the economic gains to the UK exceed the costs. The UK anticipates that formal negotiations on electricity market participation will begin shortly. (Hansard, UIN2761, 28 May 2026, link).

• The government has confirmed that there may be additional costs for the UK to join the EU electricity market. As per the below Written Parliamentary Question:

Mike Wood: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether the payments to the EU Cohesion Fund will be in addition to payments to be a member of the EU Single Electricity Market.

Martin McCluskey: We will negotiate an electricity agreement with the EU with the aim of cutting electricity trading costs, strengthening energy security, driving North Sea investment and helping to achieve our Clean Power 2030 Mission. The European Commission has a mandate to seek a UK financial contribution as part of any additional Internal Market access, including participation in the Internal Electricity Market. The Government is engaging to understand the EU's proposal. No contribution has been agreed, and any UK financial contribution would be subject to negotiations. Any agreement must be in the UK's interest and deliver value for money. (Hansard, UIN35581, 16 October 2026, link).

• The government has confirmed that there may be additional costs for the UK in agreeing the sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) deal. As per the below Written Parliamentary Question:

Mike Wood: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate her Department has made of the monetary payments the UK will be required to make to the EU, and to which funds or programmes, as a consequence of a proposed EU-UK SPS agreement.

Stephen Morgan: Any financial arrangements associated with the UK-EU SPS agreement, including the details of any payments, remain subject to ongoing negotiations. Further information will be provided once the agreement has been finalised. (Hansard, UIN37654, 29 October 2026, link).