The European Research Group (ERG) is a research support group and caucus of EuroscepticConservative Members of Parliament of the United Kingdom.[1] In a Financial Times article in 2020, the journalist Sebastian Payne described the ERG as "the most influential [research group] in recent political history".[2]
In July 1993 Sir Michael Spicer, the then MP for West Worcestershire, created the European Research Group in response to growing concerns about Britain's continued integration into the European Community through the Maastricht Treaty.[4][5] The Eurosceptic group, which was chaired by Spicer, aimed to promote coordination of right-of-centre opposition across Europe and worked alongside other anti-EU groups such as UKIP and the Referendum Party.[6] Support for the group was boosted in 1995 after it published an anti-federalist pamphlet discussing Euroscepticism which included a foreword by Prime Minister John Major.[7]
Contributors to the research output of the ERG have included Daniel Hannan and Mark Reckless who wrote a paper 'The Euro: bad for business' and Hannan acted as the ERG's first secretary in 1993 according to The Guardian.[8]
An unexpected consequence of the creation of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA), under the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009 and in response to the parliamentary expenses scandal of 2009, was the formation of a sustainable revenue stream for the ERG through the formal mechanism of IPSA's administration of MP's subscriptions to pooled services. This created an opportunity for the ERG, an unincorporated association with no obligation to publish accounts, to fund researchers and establish a social media communications network at taxpayer's expense.
Senior researchers have included Robert Broadhurst, Conservative Parliamentary Researcher of the Year 2010 in the Dods Parliamentary researcher awards,[9] and Christopher Howarth, formerly of Open Europe and son of ERG subscriber Gerald Howarth, who succeeded Broadhurst. In November 2016, Howarth represented the ERG at the parliamentary researchers' and academics' conference on Brexit[10] He is a regular contributor to ConservativeHome and City A.M..[11][12]
In the period leading up to the EU referendum ten members of ERG acted in an official capacity for Vote Leave:
On 11 September 2018, members of the ERG reportedly met in Westminster to discuss plans to bring down the then prime minister, Theresa May.[18]
On 4 February 2018, columnist Peter Wilby was critical, writing that "The highly secretive body seems to devote most of its efforts to what, if it were left-wing, would be called plotting." In the same article, he quotes The Times as saying it is "the most aggressive and successful political cadre in Britain today".[19]
On 15 February 2019, the Press Association reported that "Critics, however, accuse it of acting as a "party within a party", running its own whipping operation in support of its objective of a so-called "hard" Brexit, if necessary leaving without any deal with Brussels."[20]
On 26 July 2018, the German public international broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported that "The European Research Group is a lobbying entity pushing for a no-nonsense, hard Brexit. Some say it is essentially running the show, not the British government." and "In February 2017, the group sent a letter to May setting out their hard-line Brexit demands: Britain should not only leave the EU but also the single market and customs union. That prompted Conservative MP Nicky Morgan, who voted remain, to accuse the ERG of holding Theresa May to ransom. Her then colleague Anna Soubry said that Jacob Rees-Mogg was "running our country. Theresa May is no longer in charge."[21]
On 11 March 2019, the Constitution Unit in the Department of Political Science at University College London reported in Monitor 71 that "The Conservatives have their own party-within-a-party, in the strongly pro-Brexit European Research Group. After many false starts, it forced a vote of no confidence in Theresa May's leadership of the party in December, which she won by 200 votes to 117."[22]
On 25 October 2022 Rishi Sunak succeeded Liz Truss as Prime Minister without ERG endorsement but appointed ERG members to seven senior Cabinet positions:[25]
ERG subscriptions are taxpayer-funded through Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA)-funded pooled service within the formal IPSA Scheme of MPs' Business Costs and Expenses and is one of two such publicly funded pooled services maintained for Conservative MPs.
The ERG has drawn criticism for its lack of transparency regarding its use of public funds to carry out research. A 2017 report by openDemocracy found that more than a quarter of a million pounds had been claimed through MPs' official expenses since 2010, after which Labour MPs called for an inquiry to be carried out by the IPSA into the group's practices.[80] OpenDemocracy's September 2017 report commenced:
Taxpayers' money is being used to fund an influential group of hard-line pro-Brexit Conservative MPs who are increasingly operating as a "party-within-a-party".[81]
In July 2019 a tribunal ruled that the ERG's research must be made public.[83][needs update]
See also
55 Tufton Street – a building in Westminster which hosts a network of libertarian lobby groups and think tanks related to pro-Brexit, climate science debate, tax controls, education and other lobby groups.
Blue Collar Conservativism – a Brexit supporting pressure group of Conservative MPs, relaunched in May 2019.
Bruges Group – an independent Eurosceptic think tank.
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