George Osborne slammed for claiming a false victory over EU tax bill

The Treasury Select Committee has slammed George Osborne for claiming a false victory in relation to a £1.7bn tax bill which the European Union handed to the UK in October.

The UK Chancellor's claim that the Conservative-led coalition government had managed to broker a better deal with Brussels over its additional tax bill was deceptive, said select committee leader Andrew Tyrie.

The payment has not been reduced and only offset with a delayed deadline, he said.

"It seems to me the bottom line didn't change a scrap," Tyrie said to senior Treasury official Mark Bowman, who appeared before the committee alongside Osborne.

"Having looked at the papers it seems to me pretty clear, and I'm surprised that you feel that it wasn't really clear."

In October, the EU declared that the UK would have to pay £1.7bn (€2.1bn, $2.7bn) in extra tax to the bloc after statistics agency Eurostat assessed the economic performance of members over the last 20 years, and readjusted what it thinks countries should be contributing in tax, in line with stronger growth.

Prime Minister David Cameron said that the UK would not pay this new amount while members of his Conservative Party have dubbed the demand as "daylight robbery".

The UK already pays an annual net contribution of £8.6bn to the EU.

However, a couple of weeks after the row began, Osborne said he secured a victory against the EU, after the bloc agreed to push back the UK's deadline for a £1.7bn tax bill and accept just half the original surcharge.

The move means that the bill from Brussels will not have to be paid until 1 September 2015.