EU Orders Britain to Pay £1.7 billion

Greedy Brussels has demanded an extra £1.7bn from the UK tax payer because our economy is better than others in the EU.

The astonishing bill is due on 1st December, just days after the Rochester and Strood by-election which the Tories are set to lose to Mark Reckless and UKIP.

In contrast, the French who already receive heavy subsidies for their agricultural section will receive an extra £790m rebate because its economy is struggling – a clear example of the EU rewarding failure and bad economic policies.

The Prime Minister is at the second day of a European Council Summit in Brussels and it is expected he will challenge the fee which is almost a 20 percent increase on last year’s huge bill.

Mr Cameron will be under pressure from his own side to kick the demand firmly into touch in what could be a great opportunity for the Prime Minister to prove himself to an uncertain British public.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Eurosceptic MP John Redwood said that the Prime Minister must reject the idea.

“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.” he said.

“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,”

The Daily Mail reports a Downing Street source saying: ‘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.’

But the EU defended the decision to burden British tax payers with another bill.

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.’

The UK is already set to pay £8.6bn into the EU budget, money which pro-withdrawalists say could be spent on repaying the huge national debt or – coming a day after the NHS report – helping to plug the billion pound black hole.

Philip Davies, MP for Shipley, said:’The Prime Minister should tell them to stick their 2billion euro demand where the sun doesn’t shine. We’re already paying £20billion a year in EU membership fees. They’ve got a damn nerve coming back for more. It seems now they are penalising us for having the good sense not to join the euro, and rewarding other countries for this political obsession with monetary union.’

Nick de Bois, the Tory MP for Enfield North, said: “Only the EU would demand more money when everyone is belt-tightening.”

Greedy Euro-MPs have demanded a budget of €146.6bn for 2015 in addition to the new bill.