I have to thank GavPOLITICS for reprinting an euro-briefing from MEP Daniel Hannan commenting on the Great Budget Climbdown. The entire piece is well worth a read but a couple of choice statistics caught my eye:

Even after the rebate, the United Kingdom remains the second-highest contributor to the EU budget. Indeed, for most of the 34 years since we joined, we and the Germans have been the only two nations to make any net contribution at all.

In the 21 years since Margaret Thatcher secured the abatement, Britain has handed over £120 billion gross (£50 billion net) to Brussels. A billion here, a billion there — after a while it starts to add up to real money. If we were to withhold this tribute, we could give the entire country a two thirds reduction in council tax. Or, if we preferred, we could abolish inheritance tax and capital gains tax, and still have enough left over to scrap stamp duty.

Where exactly is our money going? Well, quite a lot is being lost or stolen. Last month, for the eleventh consecutive year, the European Court of Auditors refused to endorse the EU budget on grounds that it could account definitively for only 11 per cent of the total spending.

So – if the EU were a company, it’s directors would have been in the dock long ago. And just when it seemed our Beloved Leader was going to stand firm and bring down the house of cards – he blinked.