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Originally Posted by Livia

Not true. The Government were informed last week.

It doesn't play into the Tories hands at all, coming at the worst possible time for Cameron with an important by election in November and adding fuel to UKIP's fire.

Its a pre-determined formula that uses the governments own figures on how well the economy did, so it is true, it was his own government departments that supplied the EU with the numbers that resulted in the adjustment.

former Conservative cabinet minister Ken Clarke raised a laugh when he said: "May I first of all sympathise with the prime minister by being taken by surprise on a subject which everybody in the Foreign Office and the Treasury must have known was coming along for the last five months"