The cost to taxpayers from Sir Keir Starmer’s deal with the European Union will be outweighed by the economic benefits, industry minister Sarah Jones said.
The UK will pay administration costs, which have yet to be decided, for participation in measures such as the scheme to make it easier to ship animal and plant products to the EU.
Ms Jones told Sky News: “We are not paying, through any of this, for access to markets. That is not what we are doing. We are not rejoining the EU.
“Where we will pay, and these things will be negotiated, where we will pay is where there are joint costs that need to be paid.”
She added: “Whatever administrative costs we have to pay, and they will be negotiated and I don’t have an answer for you now on what those costs are, they will be outweighed very significantly by what we estimate will be a £9 billion advantage a year by 2040.”
