in net terms Norway pays a similar sum per person for its arrangement as the UK does for full membership.

To see why this is so, start with Norway's gross contribution. In 2016, Norway's payments in relation to its membership of the European single market and other EU programmes it takes part in will come to about £623 million* or £119 a head, according to an analysis by InFacts of data provided by the country's embassy in the UK.

Unfortunately, there are no public figures for the money Norway gets back from these programmes, making it impossible to be certain what its net contribution is. However, a generous assumption would be that Norway receives an amount per capita similar to what the UK receives from those parts of Europe's arrangements in which Norway participates--mainly the EU's science funding programme. (The UK has been notably successful in winning EU science grants.)

Britain's receipts from EU programmes that Norway also benefits from (again, using generous assumptions) come to £23 per person**. Subtracting that amount from Norway's gross contribution, we get an estimated net contribution of £96 per head.

What is the equivalent figure for Britain? As InFacts has previously shown, the UK sent £12.9 billion to the EU last year. After subtracting the money the EU spends in the UK and money that the UK would spend anyway because of its commitment to global development targets, the UK's net contribution to the EU comes to £96 per capita--by coincidence, exactly the same as our estimate for Norway.

With devaluation, the UK could end up paying considerably more than Norway in £ terms. But hey - Norwegian ministers don't have to attend all those boring EU decision making meetings...

Index of Frank's Diaries