THIS surely has to be the last straw. We hear now the commissioners in Brussels want the UK taxpayers to trump up £1.7 billion by December.

The reason? The UK has been performing better with its economy in the last 20 years than any other EU states.

In fact, France and Germany are actually receiving a rebate.

So we can afford this vast sum? It appears that when the UK starts to prosper that stumbling block the EU stops us.

I suspect we’ve kept our economy secure compared to other EU countries because of the small amount of trading we conduct outside the single market of Europe.

P J HOUSE, Eastleigh.