Tory rebels call on British PM to veto EU budget rise

The Commons’ Tory backbenchers launched a bid to block any rise in the EU’s budget after the Prime Minister hinted that London could increase its contribution to EU budget to around £13.6 billion a year.

The Tory rebellion was boosted by the Labour party’s opposition to any increase in the EU budget. Tory eurosceptics and Labour MPs will put up a fight at the parliament on Wednesday, when David Cameron is going to ask for approval of his stance on EU budget.

Mark Pritchard, MP for the Wrekin, has filed an amendment calling for the Prime Minister to stand up to a wasteful EU, which has flatly refused to cut costs and staff.

Mark Reckless, MP for Rochester and Strood, has a separate amendment calling for a real-terms cut in the EU budget.

Reckless said it "beggars belief that Parliament is being asked to promise the EU an inflationary increase in its budget for every year through to 2020 - to exempt the EU entirely from the financial pressures facing families and governments across Europe".

He said he is supporting an amendment to say "there must be at least some constraint on EU spending".

"Although many of us would wish to see a substantial reduction in EU spending, at least in line with cuts at home, today we are only asking the government to strengthen its stance so that there is some real terms reduction in the EU budget," he said.

"Some real terms reduction is surely not an unachievable or excessively radical goal, given the extent to which we and other EU countries are making less palatable cuts at home", added Reckless.

Cameron will face a difficult situation when he enters debate on the issue, both from his own political side and the opposition Labour Party.

Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, and Douglas Alexander, the shadow foreign secretary, have said that no extra money at all should flow to Europe.