Brown and Prodi clash over £40bn

A row opened up between London and Brussels today over a demand for a £40 billion increase in the European Union budget.

Chancellor Gordon Brown dismissed as "unacceptable and unrealistic" a proposal to increase member states' contributions by up to 25 per cent.

A spokesman for European Commission Pre s ident Romano Prodi hit back by dismissing Mr Brown's intervention as "counter-productive".

Britain and five other EU countries are opposing a call to increase contributions.

Mr Brown, the Cabinet's leading Eurosceptic, called the spending proposals "wasteful, inefficient and unfair". His aides insisted Britain would keep its £2 billion budget rebate, which would be jeopardised by any increase in EU spending.

The dispute erupted as Tony Blair prepared to meet his French and German counterparts in an attempt to delay a deal on a new EU constitution.