Treasury admits officials were told about £1.7 billion EU bill

David Cameron is about to be presented with evidence that the Government knew about the £1.7 billion bill from the European Commission much earlier than it admits.

This morning the EU Budget Commissioner, Jacek Dominik, insisted the UK was told about the figure in October.

There was a meeting of civil servants from EU member states on October 17, says Mr Dominik, when the implications of members' contributions were discussed.

The Treasury now admits its officials were told - but the "junior" civil servants did not pass the information further up the chain of command.

On Friday, Mr Cameron said he was angry about the "sudden" way in which the bill was presented - which had caught him by surprise.

However, it seems Labour may have evidence the Government knew about it before the summer.