THE European Commission has been accused of spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on a “pro-constitution propaganda” campaign in Britain, despite a pledge by the British Government that “not a single penny” of European public money would be spent in the referendum campaign.

An investigation by The Times has revealed that the European Commission has been funding a series of seminars, leafleting campaigns, theatre activities and “celebration days” about the European constitution across schools, libraries, think-tanks, local government and pro-European pressure groups around Britain.

The Government yesterday told the Commission not to spend any of a dedicated €8 million (£5.5 million) budget for promoting the constitution in Britain. But the Commission has already been spending large sums promoting the constitution, and has insisted that it will still fund general “information” campaigns about the EU in Britain. The Commission will also continue spending more than €1 million a year on pan-European federalist campaign groups and think-tanks that have members in Britain or influence debate here.

It gave €10,551 to Hull University to “raise awareness and understanding” of the constitution, and €25,000 to Liverpool Hope University College, to help school pupils and students to find out about the constitution. It gave the Foreign Policy Centre €38,318 for a conference on the constitution last July, and €48,601 to the Institute for Citizenship in London to hold a series of seminars on it.

Grants to public authorities include €27,291 to Yorkshire Forward, the regional development agency, to pay for a conference called Europe Alive with Opportunity.

It also paid €18,233 to Europaworld, a non-profit company in Wales, to set up a website to educate people about the constitution and send information to secondary schools.

The Federal Trust, a British think-tank, was paid €42,005 to promote the enlargement of the EU, including the production of 100,000 “information” cards. Its advisory board includes Andrew Adonis, Tony Blair’s policy adviser.

Michael Ancram, Shadow Foreign Secretary, said: “The fact that hundreds of thousands of pounds have already been spent by the European Commission to promote the constitution belies the Government’s claim that ‘not a single penny will be spent’ by them on pro-constitution propaganda. If Labour are sincere about making the referendum debate a fair one, they must get the Commission to pledge that they will spend no more hard-working taxpayers ’ money on one-sided publicity for a document most British people oppose.”

The Government said that the Commission had not spent new money backing the constitution since Britain had called a referendum. “As soon as the Government decided to call the referendum, we have made clear that we don’t want any European public money spent in the UK that can be seen as campaigning for the constitution. It is counterproductive,” a government spokesman said.

Neil O’Brien, campaign director of Vote No, said: “The reality is the Commission is already spending a lot of money promoting the constitution. Will those organisations who received money have to pay it back?” The European Commission promised not to spend money promoting the constitution, but insisted that it would still spend money providing “information” about the EU. A spokesman said: “We have every right and obligation to promote information about our activities, and we will continue doing that. We are not going to shy away from our duty.”

The Commission will continue to fund the Europe Direct Information Network in Britain, which costs €840,000 a year, to “raise local and regional awareness of the Union’s policies and programmes”. And it will continue the “Spring Day for Europe” to celebrate the constitution in British schools.

It will also continue spending more than €1 million a year on a network of think-tanks and pressure groups that promote further European integration, including the International European Movement, the Union of European Federalists, Friends of Europe, Young European Federalists, the Centre for European Policy Studies and the European Policy Centre. They are all based in mainland Europe, but most have member organisations in Britain.

Spain will become the first EU member state to vote on the constitution on Sunday. The Spanish are expected to vote in favour.

Times Recommends

• Henning Mankell: ‘If Wallander was alive, I wouldn’t be a friend of his’
• Secret society's skull and crossbones for sale
• Nigerian leader vanishes after medical treatment