Eurocrat: I will only give Brexit evidence in secret

A SENIOR eurocrat was under attack last night for demanding to give evidence in secret to a key inquiry into Britain’s referendum negotiations.

While even the heads of Britain’s intelligence agencies have given evidence in public before a parliamentary select committee, Jonathan Faull, the eurocrat in charge of the European Commission’s Brexit taskforce, insisted he would only attend a session of the House of Lords’ EU select committee if it was held behind closed doors.

Members of the public and journalists were banned from attending the meeting in Brussels where he was grilled by peers on the progress of the British renegotiation.

Ukip leader Nigel Farage last night criticised Mr Faull’s reluctance to speak in public. ‘This EU referendum will be the most important vote in a generation Brussels bigwig: Jonathan Faull and the arrogance of the European Commission in refusing public and press scrutiny leaves me stunned,’ he said.

‘Unelected bureaucrats who wield power without popular support hate public scrutiny as bats hate the light.’ The House of Lords yesterday said the decision for the meeting to be held in secret had been taken by the Commission. A spokesman said: ‘The Committee meeting with Jonathan Faull is on the record and a full transcript will be taken and published as evidence given to the inquiry.

‘The Committee is very grateful that it has been given the opportunity to hear from Jonathan Faull as part of its inquiry.’ A European Commission spokesman added: ‘While all House of Lords evidence sessions in Westminster are public, this is not the case for sessions outside Westminster.

There, the standard operating procedures apply which is a verbatim transcript of the hearing with the witness which is published together with the House of Lords Report. ‘Jonathan Faull is appearing as a witness in this case. It was his decision not to deviate from the standard operating procedure by turning this into a public session.’