Andrew Bridgen, Tory MP for North-West Leicestershire, said: “Members serving on the road of the Electoral Commission have made no secret of their contempt for Brexit.

“Are we to believe it’s an accident that it has budgeted for next year’s European parliament election with the support of the Speaker, John Bercow, who is a staunch remainer?

“Unfortunately Bercow has been given the opportunity to waste a huge amount of taxpayers’ money by the government’s delay in dealing with the House of Lords wrecking amendments and send the prime minister off to the June European Council summit with a strong mandate from Parliament.”

This latest development follows a Sunday Telegraph investigation last month which found that four of the body’s ten commissioners had made statements about Brexit since the referendum, all of them in support of staying in the EU.