Brexit: What is in the 58 Secret Reports?

Secret papers which document how major sectors of the British economy will be affected by Brexit are to be at least partially released to the public after the Government grudgingly gave in to pressure from the Labour Party and dissident Tory MPs.

The Government has not set a timeline for releasing the information and has urged Labour not to try to share the complete reports with the public.

The 58 studies by senior civil servants examine sectors ranging from advertising, aerospace and agriculture to telecommunications, textiles and tourism,  and are estimated to cover almost 90% of the British economy.

The Government has fiercely resisted publishing the papers and has rejected Freedom of Information requests for the research, prompting allegations that pro-Brexit ministers wanted to hide gloomy official assessments of just how seriously Brexit will hurt the eocnomy..

The Labour Party sought for months to have the papers released and has finally won a motion in the House of Commons with the support of a number of dissident Tory MPs to have them released. The reports will be released in full to the 20 members of the House of Commons Brexit select committee, 13 of whom voted in last year’s EU referendum to remain in the European bloc.

Anna Soubry, one of the Tory rebels, said some of those opposed to releasing the studies seemed mainly worried about what they contain. “The implication is quite clear: there’s something in them that’s not to be disclosed because it might prick this golden bubble, this balloon, of the promised land of Brexit,” Soubry said.

Blocking FOI

Seema Malhotram (left), a Labour member of the Brexit committee who voted to remain in the EU, had asked the Brexit Department the scope, terms of reference and state of completion of the reports but even those details were withheld with the department rejecting FOI requests.

“There is a strong public interest in policy-making associated with our exit from the EU being of the highest quality and conducted in a safe space to allow for design and deliberation to be done in private,” the Department for Exiting the EU said in a statement.

“In this case, releasing the commissioning document for this exercise, which is still a live policy issue, may undermine the effective formulation or development of policies which are key to our negotiating strategy.”

Lord David Hannay, a former British ambassador to the EU and the UN, said there seemed to be “no limits” to the Government’s attempts to stop Parliament scrutinising the Brexit process despite the claim that Brexit was intended to “take back control” from Brussels to Westminster. “Take back control is becoming a sick joke,” Hannay said.

The “absurd” claim that Brexit issues needed to be conducted in a “safe space… really amounts to a claim by the Government to be spared from any accountability for negotiations which, in their own estimation, are the most consequential for Britain in living memory,” he said.

Not ‘Perfectly OK’

It was also unconvincing to argue that releasing the 58 studies would weaken the Government’s negotiating hand, said Hannay (left).

“Our EU 27 partners are unlikely to be in the dark about the content of the assessments. After all, many of the companies which contributed to them are French, German, Dutch or other EU member state businesses. And the EU 27 have well staffed embassies here who will be reporting assiduously on all these matters.”

“Why then is such a fuss being made over publication of assessments which, apparently, neither the Prime Minister nor David Davis nor his junior ministers have actually read in their entirety? Not, one assumes, because they validate the Foreign Secretary’s ineffable claim that any outcome to the negotiations, including leaving without a deal, would be ‘perfectly OK’.

“More likely because they show just how damaging leaving without a deal would be, and would thus strengthen the case for once and for all killing off the mantra of no deal being better than a bad deal. Doing that would of course greatly upset those of the Government’s supporters who regard that as their preferred option.”

Keir Starmer, the Labour Shadow Brexit Secretary said it was “completely unacceptable for the Tories to have wasted months avoiding responsible scrutiny and trying to keep the public in the dark.” During the debate, Starmer argued that passing the 58 studies initially to the Brexit select committee would be a prudent approach, not least because half of them are Conservative MPs, although four voted to Remain.

The unanimous Commons vote came after Robin Walker, the junior Brexit Minister, said the Government would not oppose the release of the 58 studies, a tactic it has taken several times recently to ward off looming rebellions by Tory MPs supporting Labour motions.

Walker called on Labour to be prudent in how much information they sought to have published: “The house will appreciate that the more information is shared more widely, the less secure our negotiating position, and the harder it becomes to secure the right deal for the British people.

by Bob Graham

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