Looking at the way the EU's coronavirus recovery fund is set to be divided up, there's bitter irony in the fact that the UK would have stood to be the largest net benefactor as the worst affected nation in Europe. Instead, we don't even get loose change down the back of the sofa.
In a parallel universe, we could have been rubbing our hands at the thought of French and German taxpayers bailing us out...
(Not a pleasant narrative, but one the tabloids would have been all over.)
(Not a pleasant narrative, but one the tabloids would have been all over.)
(To give you some idea, Italy is getting 81 billion euro in grants, and Spain 72 billion.)
Another way of looking at it: Brexit saved the EU from having to bail out the UK to the tune of hundreds of billions of euro. You can bet the EU won't press that narrative, but it doesn't make it false.
