Remainers gave support to MPS’ group

AN MPS’ committee chaired by Anna Soubry was given support worth £25,000 by groups run by the figures at the heart of the campaign to overturn Brexit.

The All-party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on EU Relations was given “secretariat support” worth up to £21,000 by Best for Britain, an anti-brexit group. Best for Britain is the campaign name for UK-EU Open Policy Ltd.

Stephen Peel, a businessman who attended the dinner at George Soros’s home, has been a director of UK-EU Open Policy since it was set up in Oct 2016. Lord Mark Malloch-brown, the former UN deputy secretary general, joined the organisation 13 months later, and sits on Best for Britain’s board.

The APPG, which is co-chaired by Labour’s Chuka Umunna, was set up to “provide a forum for cross-party discussion on the UK’S relationship with the European Union”. It received support for “social media and correspondence” worth an additional £3,000 from European Movement, a group referred to in a leaked strategy document obtained by The Daily Telegraph.

Asked if it was appropriate for a Tory MP to oversee a group backed by Remain supporters intent on triggering an election, Ms Soubry declined to respond. But in a statement on the APPG’S behalf, Ms Soubry and Mr Umunna said it “complies with all the parliamentary rules governing APPGS”.