![\"Boris\"](\"https:\/\/english.thesunrisetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Boris.jpg\")
Britain will have even more money to spend on public services than the disputed \u00a3350 million (SR1.79 billion) a week Brexiteers promised after the country leaves the EU, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said in an interview published on Tuesday.\nThe \u00a3350 million figure was a central and controversial part of the pro-Leave campaign\u2019s \u201cTake back control\u201d message in the runup to the 2016 referendum. Last September government statisticians accused Johnson of misusing state data by repeating it.
\nBritain\u2019s theoretical gross contribution to the EU in 2016 was \u00a318.9 billion \u2014 more than 360 million per week \u2014 but this was automatically lowered to \u00a313.9 billion by a rebate arrangement that has been in place since 1984.
\nThe government received a further \u00a34.4 billion back to spend mostly on farm subsidies and infrastructure in poorer regions. Overall, Britain\u2019s net payment to the EU worked out at \u00a3181 million a week.
\nBrexit opponents say Johnson and other pro-Leave campaigners deliberately misled the public by saying \u00a3350 million a week could be spent on the state-run National Health Service (NHS), a claim emblazoned on a campaign bus, and it has become symbolic of the divisions caused by the referendum.
\nBut in the Guardian interview Johnson said the UK\u2019s weekly gross contribution to the EU would rise to \u00a3438 million by the time Britain left the bloc.
\n\u201cThere was an error on the side of the bus,\u201d Johnson told the Guardian newspaper. \u201cWe grossly underestimated the sum over which we would be able to take back control. As and when the cash becomes available \u2013 and it won\u2019t until we leave \u2013 the NHS should be at the very top of the list.\u201d
\nJohnson has previously said the \u00a3350 million figure referred to the gross payments to the EU, rather than the net amount. It also does not take account of EU funds given directly to other British bodies such as universities.
\nIn the last week, a number of senior Brexit campaigners such as Nigel Farage, the former head of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), suggested there needed to be another referendum to reaffirm the 2016 result of 52-48 percent in favor of leaving the EU.
\nThey fear Prime Minister Theresa May\u2019s approach has led to the watering down of several of their demands, including the ability to reduce immigration and to reclaim sovereignty by leaving the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.
\nMay has ruled out another vote and Johnson also told the paper he did not think there should be another referendum.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve just had one, and I think it went pretty well but it was something that caused an awful lot of heartache and soul-searching, and everybody went through the wringer on it,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not convinced that the public is absolutely gagging for another Brexit referendum.\u201d<\/p>\n