Have soared!

The Treasury statistics show that the UK’s net contribution to the EU will increase from £4.1 billion this year to £6.4 billion in 2010/11…

Last night the Conservatives branded government "incompetence" for the rise in contributions. The Opposition said the increased payments were the result of the "selling out" of Britain’s annual EU rebate by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown at an EU budget-setting summit 2005.

The latest Treasury figures also show that Britain is currently the second biggest net contributor, behind Germany. The new net UK contribution of £6.4 billion is the equivalent of £257 for every household in Britain – or 3p on the standard rate of income tax.

Britain’s budget rebate – won by Margaret Thatcher in 1984 – is to shrink from £5.1 billion this year to £3.3 billion in 2010/11.

You need to know more about how these mechanisms precisely work than I do to explain what is happening here. How much if any of the jump in contributions arises from eg the Pound’s movements against the Euro, or other ‘natural’ oscillations?

Plus it was always clear (I think) that our net contributions would rise over the EU’s 2007/13 Budget period, since spending by new member states such as Poland would accelerate.

Whatever.

This article reminds me that I never finished the series of postings describing/explaining the 2005 EU Budget negotiations and the leaking of my infamous email.

I started writing all this up last year when the Blog was young, ie had no readers. So if anyone among the current throng of readers is interested, the most recent posting in the series is here. Read it and the two preceding ones, as they explain the way it all works at the higher level.

Then I’ll get back to finishing the story.