Labour bids to force full publication of leaked Brexit impact paper
The party will use a decades-old parliamentary procedure while the PM is in China to push a document into the public domain.
Tuesday 30 January 2018 22:34, UK
Ministers could be forced to publish a top secret study on the impact of Brexit - after the details of what it contains were leaked.
Labour plans to use an archaic parliamentary procedure to push the document into the public domain.
Its "Humble Address" motion tabled for Wednesday is the same method that bound the Government to publish its earlier "impact assessments" on Brexit. They ultimately turned out not to exist.
But a new report dated January 2018 that says Britain will be economically worse off under every divorce model analysed was obtained and published by BuzzFeed News on Monday night.
Sky sources said the document was legitimate but only a draft.
MPs are now demanding it be released to a senior committee for proper scrutiny.
Labour believes it can force the Government's hand by invoking the centuries-old and infrequently used procedure that asks the Queen to request documents from ministers.
If successful, the document would be handed over to the Brexit select committee, which will then decide what to do with it.
But the crucial debate will come while Theresa May is on a trip to China.
Cabinet Office minister David Lidington will stand in at Prime Minister's Questions in her absence.
Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer claimed Labour had "once again" been "forced" to "make ministers do the right thing".
He said: "People voted to leave the European Union in part to give Parliament control about its own future.
"That means giving MPs the information they need to scrutinise the Government's approach to Brexit.
"Ministers cannot keep sidelining Parliament to hide the deep divisions within their own party."
When Labour successfully passed a similar motion in November, the Government was forced to respond.
Commons Speaker John Bercow said at the time: "Motions of this kind have in the past been seen as effective or binding."
A small number of rebel Tory MPs are likely to join forces with Labour to force the publication of the study, which is understood to be called EU Exit Analysis - Cross Whitehall Briefing.
Ken Clarke, Anna Soubry and Antoinette Sandbach were among at least 50 MPs to sign a cross-party letter from the APPG on EU Relations co-ordinated by pro-EU campaign Open Britain on Tuesday backing the move.