UK govt to hand over Brexit report after leak

BRITAIN’S government said on Wednesday it would hand over to parliament a leaked report that suggested Brexit would hurt the economy, trying to deflect accusations that ministers are badly prepared for leaving the European Union.

The report has struck at the heart of government Brexit strategy, with one minister suggesting that analysis by officials should be discounted and another urging the government to reconsider its stance.

It has piled pressure on Prime Minister Theresa May, who is under fire from some in her own Conservative Party for lacking leadership and a clear Brexit plan, as she negotiates a deal to end more than 40 years of union.

The main opposition Labour Party forced the government into handing over the report, entitled EU Exit Analysis: Cross Whitehall Briefing and dated January 2018, by using an ancient parliamentary procedure. Parliament’s treasury committee called on the government to publish immediately.

“In seeing this analysis, members of the House will be sharing in the responsibility and obligation that the government has to ensure the security of negotiation-sensitive materials,” junior Brexit secretary Steve Baker told parliament.

He said the report, which he denied was any kind of impact assessment, would be kept “strictly confidential” and unpublished during the Brexit negotiations.

The report leaked to BuzzFeed News said the economy would be worse off after Brexit whether Britain left the EU with a free trade deal, single market access, or with no deal at all. The government has called it a partial piece of work that had yet to be signedoff by ministers.

How to deal with its leak has exposed divisions in government.

Earlier on Wednesday, Mrs May, on a visit to China, said lawmakers would be given official analysis on any Brexit deal before they are asked to approve it.