Demands made over reports

David Davis is facing demands to publish “sectoral analyses” of Brexit in full after partially redacted reports described as “copy and paste essay crises” were released by a parliamentary committee.

The Commons Exiting the European Union Committee published 39 of the Government’s reports on different economic sectors, but redacted the industries’ views on Brexit.

Committee chairman Hilary Benn said the documents were partially redacted after he clarified with the Brexit Secretary what material should not be published because it is commercially, market, or negotiation-sensitive.

But Lord Jay of Ewelme, acting chairman of the House of Lords EU committee, who has previously described the analyses as “underwhelming”, said there was no reason why the information could not be published in full.

“They pose no risk to the UK’S negotiating position, and making them publicly available would, in our view, only promote an informed public debate on the options for Brexit,” he said.

Labour MP David Lammy, a leading member in efforts to get the Government to publish its assessment of the potential impact of Brexit, said: “David Davis clearly misled the House and then set his civil servants the unenviable task of coming up with these documents in a couple of weeks. They look like copy and paste essay crises.”