Osborne rebuked over EU surcharge reduction claim
It’s official – George Osborne lied when he said he had halved the £1.7 billion EU budget surcharge, and his claim that he had achieved a “real result for Britain” was nonsense.
![This is how George Osborne probably looked after the fire in his pants caused by his incessant lying about the EU’s £1.7bn bill burned away the rest of his suit. Note that his briefcase is still empty of policies and all he has to offer us is the carrot of false promises [Image: Kaya Mar www.kayamarart.com].](https://voxpoliticalonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/141103osbornescarrot.jpg)
This is how George Osborne probably looked after the fire in his pants caused by his incessant lying about the EU’s £1.7bn bill burned away the rest of his suit. Note that his briefcase is still empty of policies and all he has to offer us is the carrot of false promises [Image: Kaya Mar www.kayamarart.com].
“The suggestion that the £1.7 billion bill demanded by the European Union was halved is not supported by published information,” he said in a report by the committee.
“The terms of the UK’s rebate calculation are set out in EU law. It should, therefore, have been clear that the rebate would apply.”
The Treasury Committee’s report confirms what Vox Political stated the day after Osborne made his ill-advised claim.
Its report did, however, recognise the government’s “achievement” in extending the payment period and avoiding interest charges – although this was managed in conjunction with every other EU member state that found itself facing the prospect of extra payments, and was not an achievement of the UK government alone.
What does Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition have to say about this? At the time, Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls told us, “David Cameron and George Osborne are trying to take the British people for fools.”
Has Labour’s attitude softened? No.
“This damning cross-party report exposes George Osborne’s claim to have halved the EU budget surcharge to be totally untrue,” said Chris Leslie, Labour’s Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
“He must now apologise to taxpayers for making this completely false claim.
“Too many times this Chancellor has desperately tried to use smoke and mirrors to fool the British people. He has been caught out again and his credibility is further undermined.
“People will now treat the false claims he makes in the coming weeks with the contempt they deserve.”
And that is the problem for our part-time Chancellor.
He has undermined his own credibility and that of his party.
Follow me on Twitter: @MidWalesMike
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
If you have enjoyed this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
highlighting the Coalition government’s money-management failures.
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
Cant decide which of the #Tories LIES the Most??
Any bile reserved for the spendthrifts who imposed this totally unjustified tax on Britain’s poor?
Why do you think it unjustified? Haven’t you been keeping up with the information about it?
Osborne is absolutely shameless. Fancy claiming that a rebate that the country would eventually have constitutes a reduction in the UK’s EU surcharge! Blimey! Recently I heard him claim that his (in)famous “long-term economic plan”. i.e., “Plan A” which failed so badly in its own terms that it had to be extended, indefinitely, was helping keeping energy prices and interest rates low! Nothing to do with the Saudis and Americans pumping more oil rather than cutting production and the effects of a global financial crash depressing the world economy, eh?
How Gideon can say such things with a straight face is beyond me.
Back to your towels, Georgey boy, wont be long now, have heard Mcdonalds is looking for part time workers, get your CV in quick, Georgey (but don’t mention your plan A), you never know your luck.