The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Brexit impact report handed to MPS
David Davis’s Department for Exiting the EU (Dexeu) has handed over to a parliamentary committee its analysis of the potential impact of Brexit on 58 sectors of the UK economy.
The handover of the documents to the Commons Committee on Exiting the EU, chaired by Labour MP Hilary Benn, came a day ahead of the deadline agreed by the Brexit Secretary.
The committee will meet today to decide whether to publish all or part of the documents.
Mr Davis agreed to release the documents after Labour won a Commons vote on November 1 on a “humble address” to the Queen asking for what it termed the “impact assessments” to be provided to the committee.
Labour’s motion was passed without a vote earlier this month after ministers indicated the Government would not oppose it.
But there was confusion over whether it would force Mr Davis to release the papers, as Opposition Day motions are not normally binding on the Government.
Commons Speaker John Bercow said at the time that the arcane parliamentary procedure of a humble address used by Labour has “traditionally been regarded as binding or effective”, and said he would be willing to consider an accusation of contempt if the Government failed to respond.
Mr Davis confirmed in a letter to Mr Benn two days later that he was making arrangements to comply, but insisted that it was not the case that 58 sectoral impact assessments existed in the form suggested by the motion.
Instead, he said that Dexeu had drawn up a “wide mix of qualitative and quantitative analysis, contained in a range of documents developed at different times since the referendum” which looked at different sectors’ current trading arrangements and the possible alternatives following Brexit.
Dexeu stressed that ministers have a responsibility, endorsed by Parliament, not to release information that would undermine the UK’S negotiating position.
Labour MP Seema Malhotra warned that Mr Davis would face further “embarrassment and defeat” in the Commons if it turned out that the documents had been edited in an effort to keep MPS in the dark.
“If it is true that the reports they are handing over have already been redacted or edited, this would be against the spirit and the letter of Parliament’s motion,” said Ms Malhotra.