Sneaky government spin doctors have claimed victory for Britain over the EU surcharge by claiming the bill has been halved. Chancellor George Osborne said he had “struck a deal” with Finance Ministers in Brussels which took the excess down to £850million.
And the bill, instead of being paid in one lump by December 1st will be paid in two amounts with no interest charged.
But cracks have already appeared in the story after it was revealed that tax payers will still be lumped with a £1.7bn addition to the already huge UK contribution and that the discount is simply the British rebate being brought forward.
In the crucial General Election year Britain will still get a full rebate. But come 2016, it appears that Britain won’t be getting all of its rebate back, it will be minus £850m.
Bloomberg news reported that George Osborne “arrived at that figure by bringing forward a rebate that Britain is scheduled to get anyway.”
“The amount can’t be questioned,” Austrian Finance Minister Hans Joerg Schelling told reporters.
Speaking after the meeting in Brussels the Chancellor said the deal was “far beyond what anyone expected us to achieve.”
“Instead of footing the bill we have halved the bill, we have delayed the bill, we will pay no interest on the bill and if there are any mistakes in the bill we will get our money back,” he said.
He also told reporters that EU rules would be changing “so this never happens again.”
Mr Cameron told a press conference in Helsinki earlier that there would be a “major problem” if Brussels insisted that UK paid the £1.7bn in full and his stance has paid off for some.
But leading Tory MEP Daniel Hannan took to twitter to say that the UK was “worse off”.
The EU sticks us with a bill. Ministers double it, apply the rebate, return to the original figure and claim victory. We’re meant to cheer?
— Daniel Hannan (@DanHannanMEP) November 7, 2014
Britain is worse off in absolute terms, but a straw man has been knocked down. A prelude to how the pro-EU side will fight the referendum.
— Daniel Hannan (@DanHannanMEP) November 7, 2014
David Cameron took to twitter to promote the compromise:
I said we wouldn’t pay £1.7bn on December 1st. We’ve now halved the bill and will pay nothing until next July. We’re delivering for Britain.
— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) November 7, 2014
He will now face questions from rival parties as well as his own backbenchers about the transparency of this arrangement and what it really means for tax payers.
UKIP leader Nigel Farage tweeted:
Osborne trying to spin his way out of disaster. UK still paying full £1.7bn, his credibility is about to nose dive.
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) November 7, 2014
Robert Oxley from think tank Business for Britain told Breitbart London: “Huge questions remain over just what deal George Osborne has managed to negotiate. If Britain’s rebate increases to adjust for the £1.7bn surcharge it will certainly be a significant victory for the Chancellor but one that still comes with an incredibly large price tag for Britain.”
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