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David Cameron insists there is "no pressing need" for the UK to pay £1.7bn to the EU - despite a warning of a substantial fine.

The surcharge was made public at an EU summit last week - but Mr Cameron said the UK would not meet the 1 December deadline.

EU Budget Commissioner Jacek Dominik has told tonight's Ian King Live - which airs at 6.30pm - the UK could face a "visible" fine of "hundreds of millions" if the payment is delayed significantly.

But in a statement to the Commons Mr Cameron reiterated his position.

"The scale and timing of the demand is not acceptable," he said.

"It cannot just be nodded through by the EU bureaucracy - it is British taxpayers' money.

"There are fundamental issues of the fairness of these payments.

"We'll be challenging this in every way possible. We will crawl through this in exhaustive detail."

The increase would add almost a fifth to the UK's annual contribution of £8.6bn.

Outgoing Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso has insisted Brussels is only following the procedures created by member states to balance the EU's books each year.

He said the figure of £1.7bn was calculated by the independent Eurostat organisation using statistics provided the 28 member states.

The demand is the result of improvements to Britain's economy since 1995.

Preliminary figures seen by the Financial Times suggest Britain is facing the largest adjustment in the amount it must pay compared to other member states.

The Netherlands is being asked for an extra £509m, but by contrast France is due to receive a rebate of £0.8bn, Germany £618m, and Poland £250m.

Britain's surcharge is due for payment just days after the Rochester and Strood by-election, which hangs on a knife edge with anti-EU UKIP threatening to wrest the seat from the Tories.

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