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The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Coronavirus received significant funding from March For Change last summer, records indicate. The group was first set up in 2019 with the aim of blocking the UK’s exit from the single market.
It says its mission is “to defend the UK’s NHS, environmental and agri-food standards as well as citizens rights and freedoms in the upcoming US trade negotiation, and advocate for the closest possible relationship with our friends and allies in Europe”.
On its website, March For Change admits it was explicitly launched “to highlight the risks of a Boris Johnson premiership”.
According to parliamentary records, on July 8 2020, the group donated at least £84,000 to the coronavirus APPG.
The group is made up of 10 MPs and says its purpose is “to ensure that lessons are learned from the UK’s handling of the Coronavirus outbreak so that the UK’s response and preparedness may be improved in future”.
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Prominent Lib Dem Remainer Layla Moran chairs the group, which also includes high profile pro-EU members such as the Green Party’s Caroline Lucas and Labour’s Clive Lewis.
Just one Conservative MP sits on the group, Dr Dan Poulter, who voted to Remain in the EU in 2016 but then backed implementing the result of the referendum.
The APPG has been vocally critical of Boris Johnson’s handling of the pandemic.
Earlier this week it wrote to the Prime Minister urging more vaccines be given to middle and low income countries.
It said rather than using all available doses on Brits first, the UK should adopt a policy of “vaccine matching,” in which for each dose given to a Brits, one dose is donated to lower and middle-income nations.
Ms Moran said: “Unless action is taken now, millions more lives could tragically be lost in lower and middle-income countries facing a desperate shortage of Covid vaccines.
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“The UK government must not turn its back on the humanitarian disaster unfolding around the globe.
“As the eyes of the world are upon us for the G7 summit, it’s time to show global leadership and donate an equal share of vaccine doses to those who need them most.
“This would not only save lives abroad, but would reduce the risk of new variants emerging that would threaten our own hard-won progress against the pandemic here at home.”
Ms Moran has also demanded the Government start a public inquiry into the pandemic immediately, arguing against waiting until next spring.
Mr Johnson has committed to an independent, judge-led investigation into the handling of Covid but said it should not take place until next year in order for ministers, officials, and scientists to be able to focus on handling the current situation.
The Lib Dem MP has criticised the decision saying there is “no time to waste”.
She said any delay would “only prolong the pain being felt by grieving families and means vital lessons will go unlearned”.
March For Change hosts the APPG group’s website and also oversees administration on behalf of the MPs.
Express.co.uk has contacted March For Change for comment on its involvement with the APPG.
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