Update: In the last few hours, there has been huge confusion and heated debate over whether the British bill has actually been halved. Click here for the verdict of Open Europe which concludes that ‘ Osborne [is] right on the amount but may be exaggerated the extent of the concession.’
A deal has been reached over the supplementary £1.7 billion bill that Britain was handed by the European Commission a fortnight ago. Britain will now pay no more than £850 million, a halving of the bill.
George Osborne insisted that the Commission apply the ‘British advantage’ element of the rebate to the bill which led to this 50% reduction. Other EU member state have also accepted that no payments will be made by HMG before the election, with the final payment due on the 1st of September next year.
The Treasury are insistent that they will carry on checking the Commission’s maths and so the amount due could fall still further.
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