The Government is secretly planning to stay in the European Union, Eurosceptics fear, after it emerged that Whitehall officials have set aside hundreds of thousands of pounds to spend on European Parliament elections.
The
electoral watchdog has been handed a budget of £829,000 to pay for its
“activities relating to a European Parliamentary election in 2019”,
The Telegraph can disclose.
The
Electoral Commission said it had set aside the cash as a “precautionary
measure, so that we have the necessary funds to deliver our functions at a
European Parliamentary election, in the unlikely event that they do go
ahead.”
The
elections will take place between May 23 and May 26 next year – after Britain
is meant to have left the EU on March 29 – prompting concerns that civil servants are preparing for the
UK not to leave the EU as planned.
The
Electoral Commission said the cash would allow it to carry out its statutory
functions including “providing advice and guidance to political parties and
candidates”, as well as offering “advice and guidance to Returning Officers to
enable a well-run poll”.
Eurosceptics
complain the Electoral Commission is biased in favour of remaining in the EU, and have asked why it has failed
to investigate alleged collusion by pro-Remain groups, while conducting several
inquiries into the Leave campaign in the EU referendum.
A Telegraph
investigation last month found four of the regulator’s 10 commissioners
had made pronouncements on Brexit since the referendum – all of them backing
Remain.
Iain Duncan
Smith, the former Tory leader, said: “It raises the question – are they planning
for us not leaving the European Union? Are they ignoring what Theresa May has
said and deliberately still believing that we won’t have left the EU?
“It is
complete madness to earmark money to spend on an election that the Prime
Minister has already said we will not fight unless you are working to make sure
the UK stays in the EU in which you are working against the British people.”
** https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2018/05/26/government-quietly-planning-britain-stay-eu-march-deadline-eurosceptics/