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| UK's £1.7bn bill to EU 'halved' says Osborne | UK's £1.7bn bill to EU 'halved' says Osborne |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The UK will only have to pay half of the £1.7bn budget surcharge demanded by the European Union, Chancellor George Osborne has said. | |
| Speaking in Brussels, Mr Osborne said the UK would make two payments next year totalling £850m instead of £1.7bn in a lump sum by December. | |
| He said the agreement was "far beyond what anyone expected us to achieve" and was a "result for Britain". | |
| But BBC Political Editor Nick Robinson said the deal would be scrutinised. | |
| He said the Treasury was claiming to have cut the 2.1bn euro top-up charge, demanded by Brussels, in half by ensuring the UK's rebate applies to the payment. | |
| Mr Osborne welcomed the agreement after a four-hour meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels, in which he said it had also agreed that the UK would pay the additional sum in two interest-free instalments before September 2015. | |
| "Instead of footing the bill, we have halved the bill and delayed the bill," he said. | |
| "Instead of challenging the law, we have actually changed the law. It is a real result for Britain." |