London faces fresh pressure to give up EU budget rebate

The UK has come under renewed fire for paying too little into the EU's coffers, with both France and the European Commission attacking London's rebate on its EU membership contribution.

Britain's rebate - an annual discount on London's EU membership fee dating back to 1984 - survived as part of a hard-fought December 2005 deal by EU leaders on the bloc's 2007-2013 budget, despite French-led efforts to get rid of the mechanism.

But with EU leaders in 2005 also agreeing to review ...