David
Cameron was today warned by Tory MPs he must reject an 'illegal' demand
from Brussels for the UK to pay an extra £1.7billion – because our
economy is recovering faster than other member states.
To add insult to injury, France will receive a £790 million rebate because its economy is struggling.
Mr
Cameron will use the second day of a European Council Summit in
Brussels in an attempt to challenge the fee, which represents almost a
fifth of Britain's net contribution last year.
New figures reveal the increased
bill the UK faces, on top of the £8billion-a-year it already pays, is
higher than any other EU country, because its economy has been growing
faster than expected. France, Germany and Denmark are among those told
they will get money back from Brussels
The
bill is due for payment on December 1, just days after the Rochester
and Strood by-election, and will become an embarrassment for the Prime
Minister as he tries to see off the threat from Ukip.
Tory MP John Redwood insisted the Prime Minister must reject the idea immediately
'I
think we have to negotiate in a very tough way. We start by explaining
that this is unacceptable and that this is illegal as far as the UK is
concerned.
'The
British people is already paying too much tax and the last thing they
are going to do is send £1.7billion to the Commission so they can behave
in this way,' he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
'I
assume the European Union will withdraw it as we have all the cards,'
he added. 'We raise the tax revenue in this country, we're responsible
for spending it, the British people will not want to send another £1.7bn
to the EU by a very big majority, so the British government just says
it won't pay.
Ukip
leader Nigel Farage said: 'David Cameron once claimed that he had
reduced the EU budget – but the UK contribution went up. Now, quite
incredibly, our contribution goes up a second time. It's outrageous.
'The EU is like a thirsty vampire feasting on UK taxpayers' blood. We need to protect the innocent victims, who are us.'
The EU is like a thirsty vampire feasting on UK taxpayers' blood. We need to protect the innocent victims, who are us
A
Downing Street source said: 'It's not acceptable to just change the
fees for previous years and demand them back at a moment's notice. The
European Commission was not expecting this money and does not need this
money and we will do all we can to challenge this.'
EU
officials said the top-up to fees simply represented a long-standing
practice of adjusting contributions of countries based on their pace of
growth.
Spokesman
Patrizio Fiorilli said: 'Britain's contribution reflects an increase in
wealth, just as in Britain you pay more to the Inland Revenue if your
earnings go up.'
Mr
Cameron is determined to challenge the surcharge, which comes on top of
the net UK contribution to the EU budget, which was £8.6billion in
2013.
He has held talks with Mark Rutte, prime minister of the Netherlands, which is also being required to pay a top up.
Source: Daily Mail
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