PM admits defeat over child benefit sent abroad as he pushes Juncker for better deal

night, in the hope of releasing a draft text containing detailed policies on Monday.

Mr Cameron faced a further setback after he was forced to admit that regardless of the deal he strikes, migrants in the UK will still be allowed to send child benefit payments to relatives living abroad. EU migrants living in the UK send £30 million of benefits back to their families in foreign countries.

Mr Cameron pledged ahead of the election to stop all EU migrants sending child benefits abroad, saying that “if an EU migrant’s child is living abroad, then they should receive no child benefit or child tax credit”.

However, he said yesterday that he only wants to stop “paying British rates of child benefit to people who come here and leave their families at home”.

It is understood that Mr Cameron has caved in to pressure from Eastern Europe and agreed to instead “index” the benefit, meaning the pay-outs from the Treasury will simply be tweaked to match local living standards.

It means migrants will still be able to send money abroad, but that the amount will be reduced. Mr Cameron’s tense lunch with Mr Juncker came after it emerged that he is being offered a limited “emergency brake” that could allow him to stop migrants’ access to benefits for four years – but only if certain strict conditions are met.

It is understood the brake would require agreement from European countries to activate it, handing each a veto.

Sources said it could be years before the brake is activated. Tory MPs described the offer as a “bad joke” and an “insult to Britain”.

Speaking after his meeting with Mr Juncker, the Prime Minister said that he would not be pushed into a deal.

“If the deal is good enough I’ll take it. If it’s not I won’t,” he said. “There is now a proposal on the table. It is not good enough, it needs more work but we are making progress.”

Philip Hammond, the Foreign Secretary, increased the pressure on Brussels by insisting that there is “no chance” Britain will vote to stay in the EU unless it is given measures that will cut net migration.

A ComRes poll for the showed 54 percent of voters would vote to remain a member of the EU, while 36 percent would vote to leave. Ten percent of those polled about the referendum said “Don’t know”.