Cameron talks tough but he will have to pay the EU's £1.7bn bill

David Cameron has promised not to pay an extra £1.7bn backdated membership fee the EU has demanded because the UK economy limped along at a slightly better rate than most of the EU.

While France is being given an £800m rebate, Germany £614m and Poland £250m, the UK is being told to pay £1.7bn extra whilst the Dutch and Italians are being told to pay £500m and £270m extra and bizarrely the bankrupt Greeks and Cypriots are being landed with a bill for £70m and £33m.

The EU has decided to recalculate EU membership fees since 1995 to take into account the effect things like drugs and prostitution have on the economy and have decided that the UK economy has been stronger than most of the EU as a result and we've therefore been underpaying. Sitcom writers get paid a small fortune to make stuff like this up - they just need a ticket to Brussels!

Nigel Farage told listeners on his LBC radio slot this morning that David Cameron can say what he likes about the £1.7bn bill but he can't do a thing about it. The cost of being a vassal of the EU superstate is partly based on the relative performance of the economy against the rest of the EU so if the UK economy has outperformed the disastrous eurozone then we have no choice but to pay.