‘Gloomy’ Brexit report sparks MPs’ walkout

TORY MPs staged an unprecedented walkout from a cross-party committee on Brexit yesterday in protest against a ‘massively skewed’ report.

During a stormy meeting at Westminster, pro- Brexit MPs complained that the committee’s Labour chairman Hilary Benn had failed to consult them before presenting them with a 155-page report savaging the Government’s handling of Britain’s departure from the EU.

A source said Mr Benn, a former Cabinet minister, tried to pressure committee members into signing the ‘gloomy’ report.

When Mr Benn refused to back down, three Tories walked out – Dominic Raab, Maria Caulfield and Karl McCartney.

The other six pro-Brexit members of the 21-strong committee are also expected to vote against the report’s findings, rendering it almost worthless. Last night they were even discussing the release of a minority report setting out a more balanced appraisal of the Government’s approach to Brexit.

One source on the panel accused Mr Benn of ‘trying to use the committee to fire an Exocet [missile] at the Government in the week it triggers Article 50’.

The source added: ‘Normally when you are drawing up a committee report you start with a debate about the principles.

‘This time, we were presented with a 155page draft report that is massively skewed against Brexit. We were told we could offer some drafting suggestions, but there is no point doing that when the report itself is irredeemably flawed.

‘Several of us suggested that we go back to first principles, but when this idea was rejected, there didn’t seem much point in staying. It was perfectly amicable but pretty frustrating.’

Former Tory Cabinet minister Peter Lilley, who is on the committee, was not at yesterday’s meeting but said he was ‘not happy’ with Mr Benn’s report.

A spokesman for the committee said Mr Benn would not be commenting on the row,

‘Promoting a personal pro-Remain agenda’

adding: ‘We do not comment on private discussions.’ But the failure to reach a consensus means the committee’s report on the Government’s Brexit white paper now risks being fatally undermined when it is published later this week.

It also highlights concerns about the operation of the committee, which has an

in-built majority of Remain MPs including Mr Benn, who played a prominent role in the campaign to keep Britain in the EU last year.

The committee, which is almost twice the size of a normal Commons committee, is made up of 12 proRemain MPs and just nine who supported Brexit.

Eurosceptic Tory MP Peter Bone said yesterday’s walkout raised question marks about the future operation of the committee.

‘It is unheard of for MPs to walk out of a private meeting during deliberations on a report,’ he said.

‘It does appear that the chairman is trying to use the committee to promote a personal, pro-Remain agenda, which does not reflect the mood in the country. I am not sure this committee can work if it carries on like this. The whole point about select committees is to reach a consensus. Unless you can do that, any conclusions you reach are pretty pointless.’

But pro-Remain MPs yesterday insisted the committee was working.

Alistair Burt, a former Tory Foreign Office minister who is on the panel, dismissed the walkout, posting a message on Twitter saying: ‘Rest of Committee still sitting and doing its job to consider the report.’

Anna Soubry, one of the most Europhile Tory MPs, said the committee was fully entitled to produce a ‘gloomy’ report on Brexit, adding: ‘Gloomy = Brexit reality. It doesn’t have to be like this. Membership of the single market will make our prospects brighter.’

Committee sources said the report is likely to be published this week.