Give us extra £385m EU asks Britain as it battles migrant crisis

TAXPAYERS face a shock £385million bill from the European Union to help tackle the migrant crisis.

MEPs want to add billions of extra spending next year, raising the total budget by £3.3billion to £108.7billion.

They have rejected a decision by EU leaders in July to rein in spending and instead want to push it up.

This splurge leaves Britain’s share up by £385million, taking its contributions for next year to £12.6billion.

Last night, furious Eurosceptics warned the cash grab was ‘unrealistic and unreasonable’ and would push the country closer to voting to leave the EU.

But MEPs insist that the rise – which includes an extra £900million to deal with the flow of migrants to Europe and £ 371million to help dairy farmers – is necessary.

The budget rise could prove difficult for David Cameron as he renegotiates Britain’s membership ahead of a referendum to be held before the end of 2017.

Pawel Swidlicki, of think-tank Open Europe, warned that making Britain pay more would help the case for ‘Brexit’.

He said although there was a case to spend more on the migrant crisis, this should come from existing funds from the ‘wasteful and inefficient’ EU.

Ukip MEP Jonathan Arnott, a member of the European Parliament’s budget committee which is behind the move, said: ‘It’s always easy to have a spending spree when spending someone else’s money.’

Robert Oxley, campaign director of Business for Britain, said: ‘The cost of the EU budget continues to spiral, just as ministers are asking us to tighten our belts at home. The EU appears incapable of keeping its spending in check. The funda- mental problem is Britain does not have control over how the EU spends our money.’

The European Parliament’s push to increase the budget will be voted on by all MEPs at the end of next month before negotiations with finance ministers including Chancellor George Osborne.

Richard Ashworth, Tory budget spokesman in the parliament, said the demand was ‘unrealistic and unreasonable’ but he was hopeful it could be ‘severely pegged back’ in detailed talks.

A UK Government spokesman said: ‘We will continue to argue for maximum budget restraint.’ Last week Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond demanded the EU tightens its belt as part of the renegotiation of Britain’s membership.

Migrants were hauled off two lorries on the M25 near Heathrow Airport yesterday. Motorists reported seeing a ‘huge police presence’. The Surrey force said 12 men, three boys and a driver were detained.