EU can stick your £1.7 billion bill...

THE FRIDAY THING: WE might as well admit it, there is general gloom when a bill drops on the mat.

But we can only imagine what went through David Cameron’s mind when he picked up a bill for £1.7billion from the French, the Germans and probably every other country that has the misfortune to be a member of the European Union.

The irony of it all is that the PM got the biggest bill of his or anyone else’s life for no other reason than the Government has, unlike some of our neighbours, worked hard to get the UK economy back on track.

It seems odd that we should be punished for getting our financial house in order when many of the EU countries are enormously in debt - almost to the point of bankruptcy, in some instances.

The PM says he won’t pay the bill on its December 1 due-date and is pressing the EU to dramatically reduce the bill or the UK will go out of its way to block Union financial dealings, making life difficult in all EU countries. And yes, it does sound a bit like schoolyard playtime politics.

Surprisingly, Britain has an unexpected ally in France, where former minister Pierre Lellouche says it is “ludicrous” to punish the one country in Europe that has looked after its domestic finances and that has halved unemployment and that has a growth rate four times that of France.

I hope that Cameron doesn’t back down and instead sees it as a real opportunity to get out of the EU and build relationships with non-EU countries that will encourage a much broader trading base, clamp down on criminals and fraudsters and even on European judges who, it has to be said, have done us no favours.

It could just give us the push we need to escape the clutches of the EU and, as recent events have revealed, could save us £1.7billion for starters.