My Mama warned me about trolls. What makes me suspect that I am getting a right royal trolling here.
It would help assuage my fears if OP was changed to read:
"It is worth pointing out that after Germany the UK's net contribution to the EU is greater than the other 26 countries."
All I have done is dropped the word "combined". Is that too much to ask?
Whilst that
is worth pointing out, I will give OP the benefit of the doubt that she was unaware that the net contribution to the
budget does not translate to
payment. Thanks to Maggie the UK get a 66% rebate which brings them way below France and, as near as makes no difference, in a tie for 3/4/5 with the Netherlands and Italy. Hey, I'm repeating myself but some listeners appear to be a trifle deaf.
The Leave campaign dismissed the rebate on the basis that it was not guaranteed, as if their recipe is laced with certainty.
Wahaay I don't know who suggested to you that Ireland and the UK are equal in this respect but you should have spotted her immediately as a troll and you should not have repeated that "spurious" suggestion in this forum which attempts to address these issues seriously. BTW from your own stats you should have been assured that Ireland's net contribution paid for nobody's after dinner mints - it was negative
Why trouble yourself with how the Rest will make up that €4bn shortfall, a whopping 20c per head per week. Think of the bright side, how the Brits will spend all that lolly. The Leave campaign suggested that €30bn of that €4bn could be spent on the NHS (£50M per week, remember?). So not only are Leave good at keeping the barbarians at the gate they do an impressive line in "loaves and fishes". Not that the NHS could do with every cent (or penny) of it, given that the Red Cross have described the NHS as a humanitarian crisis and have been called in to help - the equivalent on the financial side of calling in the IMF.