The government has come under fire from MPs for publishing summaries of 39 sectors that will be affected by Brexit—on the last day of the Parliamentary session.
Brexit Secretary David Davis has previously said impact assessments on the key sectors of Britain’s economy had been conducted in ‘excruciating’ detail. He later backtracked, admitting in December that the assessments did not exist. He claimed that such analysis would be of little use, and declared himself ‘not a fan of economic models because they have all been proven wrong’.
However, Davis’ department released short summaries of each sector and how it interacts with the EU this week. The reports repeat Davis’ assertion, stating: ‘As the government has made clear, it is not the case that 58 sectoral impact assessments exist.’
The 39 documents include a 15-page summary of ‘professional & business services’ (including legal services) as well as similar-sized summaries of ‘real estate’, ‘retail & corporate banking’.
Pat McFadden MP, leading supporter of Open Britain, said: ‘The knots the government has tied itself in over publication of these reports says more about the state of politics and the government’s paranoid state of mind than it does about Brexit.
‘There is little or nothing in them that couldn’t be learned from the annual reports of different trade bodies yet we were asked to believe that somehow revealing how many cars were made in Britain every year was an act of national treachery.
‘The government’s most ardent supporters on the Select Committee voted not to reveal the sections which showed the industry views of Brexit and what they hoped the outcome of the talks would be. You have to wonder what they have to fear.
“This whole saga of whether or not there were impact assessments or sectoral studies, and what the difference between them may or may not be, has revealed that breezy busking won’t cut it when people’s jobs and livelihoods are on the line.’
The reports can be found here: http://www.parliament.uk
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