Stop picking pockets of Europe’s public, PM warns Brussels

Under pressure to reject any EU budget increases, Mr Cameron said it was not credible for the EU’s funding package to escape austerity while cuts are being made at home.

Speaking at the CBI conference, Mr Cameron insisted he is ready to take a tough line in negotiations. “I make absolutely no apologies for standing up strongly for Britain in Europe on some of our priorities,” he told delegates.

“Back here in the UK I have frozen some benefits, I have frozen people’s pay, I have cut some budgets by 30 per cent.

“I have actually cut the police budget by 20 per cent. It is simply not credible to go to Europe and say we have made all these difficult decisions at home but when it comes to the European budget we are going to see it go up and up and up.”

He said that wanting a tough budget settlement in Europe did not make him a “bad European”.

“I think it makes you a good European,” he told business leaders. “I think I have got the people of Europe on my side in arguing that we should stop picking their pockets and spending more and more money through the EU budget, particularly when so many parts of the European budget are not well spent.”

Mr Cameron said there has been little attention paid to the central costs of the EU, the commission budget and what people get paid.

He also called for road and rail expansion. “Last on my list is getting our roads and railways built more quickly,” he said. “In the 1950s it took us eight years to design and build the first 50 miles of the M1. Today it can take that long just to widen one section of a motorway. So we are speeding things up.

“It’s our ambition to cut the time it takes to upgrade our roads by a half.”