A SOUTH Essex Conservative MP has defended claiming £2,000 in expenses for work for a group of Eurosceptic Tory MPs. 

Rayleigh and Wickford MP Mark Francois claimed the cash in relation to the European Research Group of which he is chairman. 

Mr Francois says the money was used on research work to brief MPs on complex European issues, such as the UK’s revised withdrawal agreement.

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He has defended the costs as a necessary outlay to equip MPs debate matters related to Brexit.

Mr Francois, an MP since 2001, claimed the cash in June 2020 through the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) – the public governing body formed as a response to the parliamentary expenses scandal of 2009.

He said: "The European Research Group is a pooled research service, which helps provide briefings to MPs on European issues, including explaining the details and implications of often highly complex EU-related documents, such as the Revised Withdrawal Agreement, by which we eventually left the EU (which stretched to over 500 pages); the 2020 Trade and Co-operation Agreement, which now regulates our trade with the EU post departure (which totalled over 1,200 pages) and the Northern Ireland Protocol, which remains the subject of much lively debate in Parliament, to this day.

“It is very important that MPs are well informed when debating these sometimes highly technical but nonetheless really important matters – on behalf of their constituents and the wider country as a whole – and that is what such detailed research helps to provide.”

The European Research Group is a collection of Eurosceptic Conservative Members of Parliament.

According to OpenDemocracy, prominent members include Steve Baker, Iain Duncan Smith, Michael Gove, Suella Braverman, James Cleverly, James Duddridge, and Penny Mordaunt. 

Research units employ researchers to complete research projects and prepare briefings for party members.

Work funded by IPSA must comply with the three fundamental principles: it must be parliamentary in nature; not party-political and not aimed at gaining a campaigning advantage.

“As such, supporting MPs in taking part in parliamentary debates, or in responding to constituents will usually fall within the rules of the scheme,” IPSA documents state.

“However, supporting MPs in campaigning activities, such as in preparation for hustings, would fall outside of the rules."