Budget demand 'an outrage'', says Paul Nuttall MEP

MEP Paul Nuttall, UKIP deputy leader

Demands for Britain to hand over an extra €2.1bn to the EU budget have been described by UKIP deputy leader Paul Nuttall as "an outrage".

The one-off payment due by December 1 has been ordered to compensate for the UK economy performing better than other EU countries since 1995,. Details of the extra bill, drawn up by EU officials, have been revealed in a leaked Brussels document.

"David Cameron is said to be determined to challenge this additional fee that he has been ambushed with but how many times have we seen him promising to fight EU decisions and losing?

"It is an outrage that the EU can simply alter the goal posts so they can stuff yet more money into their capacious coffers. The EU is like a thirsty vampire feasting on UK taxpayers' blood and before they drain us totally dry we must escape their clutches," said Mr Nuttall, North West MEP.

The surcharge stems from the EU changing the way it calculates gross national income to include more hidden elements such as prostitution and illegal drugs.

Their officials say the calculation reflects the longstanding practice of adjusting contributions of countries according to their pace of growth.

The UK faces the biggest top-up payment and the surcharge comes on top of the net UK contribution to the EU budget, which was £8.6bn in 2013. It is expected the Netherlands will have to pay an extra €642m, while Germany is due to receive a rebate of €779m, France €1bn and Poland €316m.