EU referendum: MPs to hold inquiry into purdah changes

Mr Jenkin said the rule change could have major implications for the conduct of the EU and other referendums

Plans to relax so-called "purdah rules" on government announcements in the run-up to the EU referendum are to be the subject of a quickfire inquiry by MPs.

The Public Administration Committee said it would seek written evidence and publish an interim report before the summer recess later this month.

Eurosceptic Tories fear the rules are being amended to allow the government to campaign openly to stay in the EU.

But ministers say it is needed to allow them to continue their work.

The committee, headed by Conservative MP Bernard Jenkin, said the purdah probe would form the first part of a wide-ranging inquiry into the EU Referendum Bill, the proposed law that will authorise a referendum on the UK's membership of the EU by the end of 2017.

Mr Jenkin said he and his colleagues wanted to know why the government was planning to partially "disapply" the existing rules on government announcements in the four weeks leading up to the referendum.

The inquiry will focus on the existing rules, as set out in the 2000 Political Parties and Referendum Act, the government's case for amending them, how ministers plan to go about it and the impact it will have on the impartiality of the civil service.

In a vote on the issue last month, 27 Conservative MPs rebelled against their party, urging ministers to reinstate the full purdah period although the government won the vote after Labour abstained.

The government has said the existing rules would potentially prevent ministers from attending EU meetings and making decisions with a European dimension. They have insisted they will address MPs' concerns about this and other matters - such as the funding available to different sides and the length of the campaign itself - as the bill makes its way through the Commons.

The committee will publish its report on 22 July.