The European Union continues to provoke Britain with demands for more money and power.

At a time when Britain faces painful cuts and austerity measures, the European Commission wants to increase the EU’s budget by 4.9 percent, according to a draft proposal released on April 20. Britain’s bill would rise by £682 million to over £10 billion.

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne called the budget increase “completely unacceptable.”

The Telegraph newspaper quoted an anonymous government source as saying: “The Commission has come up with a ludicrous figure. We see this is an opening salvo, but we have already begun reviving the group of leading nations to combat it and demand a lower figure.”

This comes just weeks after a British press report that the nation may have to pay over £4 billion toward Portugal’s bailout.

And then news emerged that in 2012, EU workers’ pensions will rise by 4 percent—despite the fact that inflation across the EU is at 2.6 percent. The average EU official will have an annual income of over £60,000 when they retire, according to Britain’s Daily Mail.

At around the same time, the EU began talking about tinkering with Britain’s pension laws, making life harder for British pensioners. Their changes to the law would force employers to pay off deficits in their pension fund more quickly. The Daily Express, an anti-European tabloid paper, concluded, “The folly of remaining in Europe becomes clearer by the day along with the sheer outrageousness of having to follow laws made up in a foreign land.”

The EU is also trying to grab more power to tax EU nations. In March, the European Parliament called for the introduction of a Financial Transaction Tax. It is talking of raising taxes on diesel, and even abolishing red diesel—diesel available for a much lower tax rate that cannot be used in cars or trucks.

It is also discussing harmonizing Value Added Tax (vat) across the EU. Britain doesn’t charge vat on non-luxury foods, children’s clothing or books, but that could end if the EU gets its way. The EU’s proposals would mean Britain would lose control over its own taxation policies, as EU taxation decisions would be made by majority voting, according to the Daily Express.

The European Parliament is also riddled with scandal. Members of the European Parliament have been accused of offering to support amendments in the Parliament in return for cash. An investigation by the Sunday Times found four meps introduced legislative changes in return for promises of money.

And, of course, auditors have refused to sign off on the EU’s annual accounts for 16 years.

All of these issues are generating headlines and outrage across Britain.

Although not an EU institution, the European Court of Human Rights (echr) is also fueling the outrage. The court has given Britain six months to change its laws and allow prisoners the vote—despite the fact that Britain’s Parliament voted 234 votes to 22 to keep the ban.

The echr is fueling the outrage against the EU partly because many closely associate the two, and partly because it cements opposition against any organization that tries to overrule Britain’s Parliament.

Together, what all these news items mean is a growing resentment of the EU in Britain. They mean reoccurring headlines galvanizing British public opinion against Europe. They mean more pressure on British Prime Minister David Cameron to refuse to give in to Europe.

The Trumpet has long forecast that Britain will quit or be forced out of the EU. Watch this trend closely.