evidence: The level of subvention Northern Ireland receives from the UK exchequer has become, like so many things in the North, politicised. It is regularly – and spuriously – conflated with the economic cost of a united Ireland, which is an entirely different concept. [...] London, the southeast and the east of England had fiscal surpluses of £38.7 billion, £21.7 billion and £4 billion respectively and were therefore net contributors to the UK exchequer. [...] The UK treasury could, in theory, seek a contribution as part of an agreed settlement – based on a presumed liability for the North – but there’s no precedent for this and it is legally the UK’s debt.