News Digest

Furious British PM insists UK will not pay ‘unjustified’ $2.8bn EU demand

British Prime Minister David Cameron has insisted he will not pay an extra $2.8bn demanded by the European Union on December 1. The increase would add almost a fifth to the UK’s annual contribution of $14bn and an angry Cameron told a news conference in Brussels it was “completely unacceptable.” His Conservative party are under pressure from anti-Europe party UKIP and have seen two of their MPs defect to them in recent months. One, Douglas Carswell won a by-election two weeks ago while the other - Mark Reckless - contests a second by-election the day before the EU want their money.

It is an unacceptable way for this organisation to work to suddenly present a bill like this for such a vast sum of money, with so little time to pay it and it’s an unacceptable way to treat one of the biggest contributors to the European Union.

Prime Minister David Cameron

UKIP will look to make huge capital from Cameron’s dilemma, their leader Nigel Farage constantly complaining about the $88m a day Britain pays the EU. However, European Commission spokesman Patrizio Fiorilli said: “Britain’s contribution reflects an increase in wealth - you pay more to the Inland Revenue if your earnings go up.” The demand is intended to reflect improvements to Britain’s economy since 1995. The change in each state’s contribution is a result of changes in the way the EU calculates gross national income. A Commission spokesman said it was mainly due to the fact that the economic strength of EU’s member states had increased or decreased relative to each other.

I’m not paying that bill on the 1st of December and if people think I am, they’ve got another think coming. It is not going to happen. As an important contributor to this organisation, we are not suddenly going to get out our chequebook and write a cheque for 2bn euros. It is not happening.

David Cameron