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Labour has accused Brexit Secretary David Davis of offering “privileged access” to Tory donors after he and colleagues held private meetings with them about government policy.

Official records analysed by the party show Brexit ministers have met powerful Leave backers and donors to the Conservatives, including a private bank and an asset manager.

The Department for Exiting the EU was set up in 2016 and has a crucial role in Britain’s future after leaving the EU.

There is no detailed record of what was discussed.

Labour shadow minister Jon Trickett claimed “Tory donors and backers of an extreme Brexit” were “getting privileged access to ministers.”

He added: “David Davis has questions to answer over how much access rich and powerful backers of the Conservative Party have been given to the ministers whose decisions on Brexit will affect millions of ordinary people.”

(Image: AFP)

One firm singled out by Labour was Arbuthnot Banking Group, which enjoyed two meetings with Brexit Secretary David Davis in November and December 2016, government records show.

The bank’s chairman and chief executive Sir Henry Angest, a 77-year-old former chemicals chief, is a major Tory donor who enjoys private dinners with the Prime Minister.

Flowidea Ltd, of which Sir Henry is a director, has given £411,500 to the Conservative Party since the EU referendum .

Two Arbuthnot companies also gave £50,000 each to David Davis personally around the time he stood for the Tory leadership in 2005.

Another donor highlighted by Labour was Odey Asset Management, which donated £20,000 to the Tories in 2011, and had a meeting with then-minister Lord Bridges in November 2016.

Founder Crispin Odey is a staunch Brexiteer who has donated tens of thousands of pounds personally to both the Tories and UKIP. He is said to have made £220million by betting on a Brexit vote, saying at the time: “I think I may be the winner.”

Other past Tory donors included a think tank and a PR firm, while Labour also singled out a multimillion-pound donor to the non-Tory Leave.EU campaign. A DEXEU source insisted the meetings were a tiny minority of the “very large number” held by ministers in the department.

A Conservative spokesman told the Mirror: “All donations to the Conservative party are properly and transparently declared to the Electoral Commission, published by them, and comply fully with the law.”

A spokesman for the Arbuthnot Banking Group said: “Sir Henry Angest is a long-standing supporter of the Conservative party and its policies and has been for many years.

“All his donations are reported fully in the proper way.”

Odey Asset Management declined to comment.