Government ministers and the head of the civil service have warned of the risk of legal action from those “with deep pockets” as they argued for a relaxation of the rules on what the government can spend and announce in the 28 days leading up to the EU referendum.
Sir Jeremy Heywood, cabinet secretary and head of the civil service, told MPs on Tuesday that a relaxation of the so-called purdah rules (pdf) was needed to allow the government to conduct business as usual in Brussels.
“Unless ministers tread very carefully, they may well end up using arguments in those internal EU discussions which could be construed by anyone who is litigious as bearing on those questions of the referendum,” he said.
The public administration committee, chaired by Tory MP Bernard Jenkin, is holding an inquiry into government plans to relax the purdah rules, which are designed to prevent the government machinery involving itself in the final 28 days of a referendum campaign.
Jenkin has said he and his colleagues wanted to know why the government was planning to partially “disapply” section 125 of the Political Parties and Referendum Act 2000 (PPRA 2000), setting out the rules which apply to the 28 days in the run-up to the referendum.
David Lidington, minister for Europe, told MPs that, based on internal legal advice and from external legal counsel, if the rules were not relaxed “the risk of litigation is real, which we have to take seriously”.
He outlined a whole range of crises where the threat of litigation could hobble ministers, including the Greek financial crisis, Russia and Ukraine, and government responses to the European Court of Justice.
Heywood said the government would “err on the side of caution” because “you can’t allow that sort of legal uncertainty to hover over the last stages of a hugely significant referendum”.
In a vote on the issue last month, 27 Conservative MPs rebelled against the government, urging ministers to reinstate the full purdah period, although the government won the vote after Labour abstained.
The effort to defeat the government was led by Bill Cash, a veteran Tory Eurosceptic, who joined forces with fellow Tories and Labour MP Kelvin Hopkins to table an amendment that would restore strict purdah rules set out in the PPRA.
Four former ministers who served in cabinet with Cameron were among the rebels, including Liam Fox, who voted against his party for the first time in his 23-year parliamentary career. Eurosceptic Tories fear the rules are being amended to allow Cameron to use the machinery of government, particularly the civil service, to campaign openly in favour of staying in the EU.
Before last month’s vote, Lidington told MPs he was prepared to amend the bill at report stage in the autumn as a way of offering assurances that the government could not abuse its position in the final phase of the referendum campaign.
Last week, Lord Owen, the former Labour foreign secretary, strongly questioned whether Heywood was the right person to protect civil service impartiality if the purdah rule was eased.
“His whole career has been spent in the hot-house atmosphere of politicians’ private offices and prime ministers,” said Owen. “He has got into habits.”
Asked about Owen’s highly personal criticisms, Heywood told MPs: “I’ve served different governments of different political complexions. I’ve had no complaints … He has no idea what I do day to day.”
