A cross-party group of MPs, including Ukip’s only MP, is to formally join the Westminster-based ‘Out’ campaign, Coffee House has learned. An ‘exploratory committee’ of MPs which started discussing how to advance the case for ‘Out’ in June, will become the Parliamentary Planning committee for the Matthew Elliot-led Out group, which is to move into new offices in Westminster Tower later this month.
The members of the parliamentary planning committee are Steve Baker, Douglas Carswell, Bernard Jenkin, Kate Hoey, Kelvin Hopkins, Owen Paterson and Graham Stringer. More MPs will join the committee in the coming weeks. It will advise the campaign team and build support for this particular Out campaign (there are currently three different Out campaigns) in parliament.
Carswell’s presence on the list is intriguing, given his leader Nigel Farage launched his own ‘Out’ campaign earlier this week. But the Ukip MP said he would be working both on this campaign and the Ukip campaign and was happy to be involved in any other ‘Out’ campaign too. ‘We’re all this together,’ he explained.
The existing group of MPs has already been influential in pushing for changes to the EU referendum bill, particularly on the provisions in the legislation for a purdah period. That they are joining this particular Out camp is a big boost to its chances of being designated the official ‘Out’ campaign by the Electoral Commission, given the Commission’s guidelines state the lead campaigners must demonstrate they ‘represent to the greatest extent those campaigning for that outcome’.
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