Government spent £100k of taxpayers' money on Facebook adverts to sell Theresa May's doomed Brexit deal

Labour said it was 'a completely inappropriate use of public money'

The government spent nearly £100,000 on Facebook adverts to sell Theresa May's Brexit deal to the public - only for the key vote to be delayed over fears of a crushing defeat.

Official figures from the social media firm show that ministers shelled out £96,684 on 11 promotions between December 2 and December 8, ahead of the much-anticipated Commons showdown on Tuesday.

In chaotic scenes, it emerged on Monday that the prime minister had shelved plans for a "meaningful vote" on her Brexit deal in the face of a catastrophic defeat.

Facebook's records show most of the cash was spent on videos explaining "what the Brexit deal means for you - explained in 60 seconds" on areas such as immigration and jobs.

Three videos explaining how the deal affected free trade, the economy and controlling the UK's borders cost between £10,000 and £50,000 each to promote, reaching between 500,000 and a million Facebook users each.

The new advert transparency reporting comes after fierce criticism of Facebook over data harvesting, fake news and privacy. It also comes after the Vote Leave campaign group was sanctioned over advertising spending on Facebook during the Brexit referendum.

There are also six active adverts on the official Downing Street Twitter account promoting the same videos, although no information on the amount spent is currently available.

Shadow cabinet office minister Jon Trickett said it was "a completely inappropriate use of public money", which was "entirely wasted".

He said: "This reveals a government deeply paranoid and insecure about the botched deal they have been trying to sell to the British public, but which they now appear to have abandoned.

"Not only is this a completely inappropriate use of public money, but it turns out to have been entirely wasted.

"When official resources are used for the prime minister's personal purposes it threatens our democracy."

A government spokeswoman said: "Communicating government policy effectively to the public is a core function of the civil service.

"We have reached a deal that is good for the UK, good for its citizens, and good for business and we will be communicating that to the country.

"We will publish all costs associated with this in the usual way."

It comes as Ms May accepted that there was "widespread and deep concern" over the backstop arrangement, designed to keep the Irish border open if the EU and UK fail to strike a wider trade deal.

If the vote had gone ahead as planned, the government would have been defeated by a "significant margin", she told MPs.

"We will therefore defer the vote scheduled for tomorrow and not proceed to divide the House at this time."