Emissions are not the issue - the regs state that the EGR must be fitted - it's been done to death on here - probably about the time the regs changed in May last year IIRC.
Historic passes are irrelevant - what matters is; if it was fitted at the factory, then it must be fitted now. And VOSA can tell this from the VIN. Even if the MOT tester turns a blind eye, then, in the event of an accident and a potential vehicle inspection - there is the potential for your insurance company to say that it doesn't meet C&U regs and therefore you are not insured .... You might consider this scare mongering or just plain rubbish - I don't - it's your call - depends how much corporate bullying you think you have the stomach for.....
Both our D1's have the EGR's fitted, and the MOT tester did check, quite thoroughly, that they were present too.
In terms of EDC, yes, sadly I have plenty of experience of it, so much so, I took it off my D1 auto.
As it happens, both our smoke test results are very low - IIRC, round about 0.2 - so, significantly less than the limit of 3.