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| Abbreviation | ERG |
|---|---|
| Formation | July 1993; 32 years ago (1993-07) |
| Founder | Michael Spicer |
| Legal status | IPSA-funded pooled service |
| Purpose | Support research forEurosceptic UK Conservative MPs who choose to subscribe |
Chairman | Mark Francois |
Deputy Chairman | David Jones |
Deputy Chairwoman | Andrea Jenkyns |
Parent organisation | Conservative Party |
TheEuropean Research Group (ERG) is a research support group andcaucus ofEuroscepticConservative Members of Parliament of the United Kingdom.[1] In aFinancial Times article in 2020, the journalistSebastian Payne described the ERG as "the most influential [research group] in recent political history".[2]
In 2018, the group served an annual average of 21MPs[3][needs update] including cabinet members, the group's focus is the single issue of theUK's withdrawal from the European Union. Since the2024 general election, the membership has been severely reduced.
In July 1993 SirMichael Spicer, the then MP forWest Worcestershire, created the European Research Group in response to growing concerns about Britain's continued integration into theEuropean Community through theMaastricht Treaty.[4][5] TheEurosceptic 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 asUKIP and theReferendum Party.[6] Support for the group was boosted in 1995 after it published an anti-federalist pamphlet discussingEuroscepticism which included a foreword by Prime MinisterJohn Major.[7]
Contributors to the research output of the ERG have includedDaniel Hannan andMark Reckless who wrote a paper 'The Euro: bad for business' and Hannan acted as the ERG's first secretary in 1993 according toThe Guardian.[8]
An unexpected consequence of the creation of theIndependent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA), under theParliamentary 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 ofOpen Europe, 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 toConservativeHome andCity A.M..[11][12] Howarth stood for the Conservative Party in the 2019 General Election inHoughton and Sunderland South losing toBridget Phillipson by 3,115 votes.
In the period leading up to the EU referendum ten members of ERG acted in an official capacity forVote Leave:
Following the result of theBrexit referendum in 2016Chris Heaton-Harris MP resigned as ERG's chair and the new chairSteve Baker and deputy chairMichael Tomlinson announced a relaunch of the ERG, calling for the government to withdraw from theEuropean Economic Area (EEA) and theEuropean Union Customs Union.[13][14] Baker was subsequently promoted toParliamentary Under-Secretary of State forExiting the European Union and in May 2017Suella Braverman replaced him as the group's chair.[15][16]In January 2018, Braverman was also promoted to theDepartment for Exiting the European Union asParliamentary Under-Secretary of State making way forJacob Rees-Mogg to be elected.[17]
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, columnistPeter 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 quotesThe Times as saying it is "the most aggressive and successful political cadre in Britain today".[19]
On 15 February 2019, thePress 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 broadcasterDeutsche 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 MPNicky Morgan, who voted remain, to accuse the ERG of holding Theresa May to ransom. Her then colleagueAnna 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 atUniversity 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]
Many new Conservative MPs elected in the2019 general election joined the group.[23][needs update]
On 6 September 2022Liz Truss succeededBoris Johnson asPrime Minister and appointed known ERG subscribers to nine seniorCabinet positions including two of theGreat Offices of State in hernew government:
On 25 October 2022Rishi Sunak succeeded Liz Truss as Prime Minister without ERG endorsement but appointed ERG members to seven seniorCabinet positions:[25]
 | This article needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(August 2024) |
Subscribers to the pooled service provided by the European Research Group can be identified on theIndependent Parliamentary Standards Authority records of Parliamentary expenses. As an unincorporated association the group does not publish membership details or annual accounts. Various media reports speculate that a wider membership exists and on 1 May 2019, following a ruling by theInformation Commissioner's Office that theDepartment for Exiting the European Union must reveal the existence of an email to the group fromSteve Baker,openDemocracy published a report on a wider membership.[31][32][33]
ERG subscriptions are taxpayer-funded throughIndependent 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 byopenDemocracy found that more than a quarter of a million pounds had been claimed through MPs' official expenses since 2010, after whichLabour MPs called for an inquiry to be carried out by theIPSA into the group's practices.[81] 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".[82]
According to a 2017 article inThe Observer, the ERG has also been funded by a secretive group called theConstitutional Research Council.[83]
In July 2019 a tribunal ruled that the ERG's research must be made public.[84][needs update]
