Brexit impact study never took place, says minister
THE Government cannot reveal impact assessments for Britain’s economy in the wake of Brexit because they “don’t exist”, David Davis has admitted.
The declaration before the Brexit select committee has put the Brexit Secretary on collision course with MPS who accused him of a “total dereliction of duty” as he said that “no systematic impact assessment” had been undertaken by the Government.
A month ago, the House of Commons demanded ministers hand over the assessments and were left disappointed at the paucity of material released, prompting suggestions that Mr Davis may be in contempt of Parliament for failing to comply with the exact wording of a motion agreed by MPS – something rebuffed by the committee after agreeing the Government had complied with the terms of the motion.
Yesterday Mr Davis told the committee the reason his Department for Exiting the European Union had not handed over the impact assessments was that such work had not been done.
He said: “The motion asked for things that don’t exist. That’s the point. It asked for things that don’t exist. I had tried to get as close to that as I could within the parameters that my duties as a minister allow.”
In June, Mr Davis said the Government had “50, nearly 60 sector analyses already done” on the impact of Brexit and in October added work had been undertaken in “excruciating detail”.
But he said yesterday that sectoral analyses were not the same as an impact assessment. The revelation prompted Labour’s Angela Eagle to accuse Mr Davis of a “dereliction of duty” while others called on him to resign.
‘The motion asked for things that don’t exist. That’s the point. It asked for things that don’t exist’