I won't pay, says Cameron, after £1.7bn EU 'ambush'

David Cameron has said he will not pay the extra £1.7bn demanded by the EU after a review of member states' contributions.

Britain has been given five weeks to pay the unexpected bill, which has been levied because of the country's fast pace of growth, prompting outrage from eurosceptics.

"If people think I am paying that bill on 1 December, they have another thing coming," Cameron told reporters in Brussels today.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Last night he held talks with Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, who has also been asked to make a top-up payment of £507m. Rutte is reportedly considering legal action to reverse the ruling.

The bill is due for payment on 1 December, just days after the Rochester and Strood by-election, with the latest poll already giving Ukip a 13-point lead over the Tories. In the Daily Mail, Ukip leader Nigel Farage has likened Brussels to "a thirsty vampire feasting on UK taxpayers' blood".

The top-up payment represents almost a fifth of Britain's net contribution of £8.6bn to the 2013 EU budget, meaning Britain's EU membership bill will have been pushed up by 20 per cent this year.

Meanwhile, France will receive a £790m rebate because its economy is struggling.

The surcharge comes from a change in the way the EU calculates gross national income to include more hidden elements. Officials say the new payment reflects its practice of adjusting contributions according to a country's pace of growth.

"Britain's contribution reflects an increase in wealth, just as in Britain you pay more to the Inland Revenue if your earnings go up," said Patrizio Fiorilli, a Commission spokesperson.

Peter Bone, the Tory MP for Wellingborough, was among the eurosceptics angered by the bill. "The prime minister has been ambushed," he told the Daily Telegraph. "This is a total disgrace. It is another reason we have to leave this EU super-state. The British people won't put up with it. Roll on the referendum."

A Downing Street source told the Financial Times: "It's not acceptable to just change the fees for previous years and demand them back at a moment’s notice."

They added: "The European Commission was not expecting this money and does not need this money and we will work with other countries similarly affected to do all we can to challenge this."