It stems down to something called the Tobin tax which,
if I'm reading this right, makes a 50bn euro fund to help the poor suffering countries. Britain would end up paying 40bn of that.
( Grrrmachine the indifference engine, Mon 12 Dec 2011, 8:09, archived)

Woah that's rather a lot

( spangolin - the odds are good but the goods are odd, Mon 12 Dec 2011, 8:11, archived)

It comes from the City doing all the big financial stuff day in day out
10% of the UK economy and all that.
( Grrrmachine the indifference engine, Mon 12 Dec 2011, 8:12, archived)

Don't Germany make a lot of money too though
Do they have their own version of this to pay?
( spangolin - the odds are good but the goods are odd, Mon 12 Dec 2011, 8:14, archived)

Germany did this funny thing 10 years ago when the Euro was invented
when all the countries converted their Francs and Lira and Pesatas to Euros, the Deutchemark got a 21% discount, making everything there a fifth cheaper. Incredibly, German exports in those ten years exploded. Whooda thunk it?
( Grrrmachine the indifference engine, Mon 12 Dec 2011, 8:16, archived)

Those sneaky krauts!

( spangolin - the odds are good but the goods are odd, Mon 12 Dec 2011, 8:21, archived)

               __
             *,   \
              ^####^
      ."```''/o    o|
     / € € €   ,--, /
     \  €  €    .../
      | ||~~~| ||
      ^^^`   ^^^`   

( Edd: The Unfunny Try-Hard Edgelord, Mon 12 Dec 2011, 8:15, archived)

HURRAH!
:D
( stuj (^(^;;^)^) GO TEAM SPIDERS!(^(^;;^)^), Mon 12 Dec 2011, 8:16, archived)

Festive Alot!
:D
( spangolin - the odds are good but the goods are odd, Mon 12 Dec 2011, 8:20, archived)