Travels To Brussels For Brexit Talks Cost UK Government Nearly $650,000 - Reports

The UK government spent almost 500,000 pounds (nearly $650,000) to cover lawmakers' air and train travel to Brussels during the Brexit negotiations period, The Guardian reported on Friday, citing the response by the former Department for Exiting the European Union to a respective request

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th February, 2020) The UK government spent almost 500,000 Pounds (nearly $650,000) to cover lawmakers' air and train travel to Brussels during the Brexit negotiations period, The Guardian reported on Friday, citing the response by the former Department for Exiting the European Union to a respective request.

The figures cover the period from the June 2016 Brexit referendum to December 31, 2019.

The 500,000 pound bill does not include other related expenses, which may have cost the budget over 1 billion pounds, the newspaper reported.

In 2016, Brexit-related travel cost then-Prime Minister David Cameron's government just 20,000 pounds, The Guardian said.

After Cameron's resignation, costs soared as UK ministers traveled to and from Brussels more than 2,200 times, with the average price for a one-way ticket estimated at about 200 pounds.

The UK officially left the bloc on January 31, after which a transition period envisioning negotiations on post-Brexit trade cooperation started.