Brussels bosses demand £6m from UK claiming our weather forecasters broke contract by being lazy

PENNY PINCHING BRUSSELS chiefs have gone to war with the UK’s ‘lazy’ Met Office in an extraordinary row over millions of pounds of funding.

The European Commission is demanding the UK return £6million granted to the weather watchers to help study climate change.

In an astonishing move, the Commission claims the Met needs to hand back the cash because of “inadequate timekeeping procedures”.

The cross-EU programmes date from 2008 to 2013 and the cash demand – at the height of Brexit tensions – follows a Brussels audit of Met Office work.

Theresa May is already poised to hand Brussels £39billion – if she can get her Brexit deal through the Commons.

Business Secretary Greg Clark – one of the most Europhile ministers in Theresa May’s Cabinet – has vowed to mount a legal challenge over the row.

One person briefed on the case told The Sun: “Even Greg thinks there are is an argument to take them on over this.

“He believes we should be able to overturn the decision.

“It comes from a Commission’s audit of the Met Office – which is ironic when the EU’s accounts weren’t signed off for years.”

Neither the Department for Business nor the Met Office would comment.

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