Leaving the EU: Sectoral Impact Assessments

Debate between Seema Malhotra and Robin Walker

Tuesday 28th November 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Walker]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his suggestion. Of course such suggestions are not necessarily for me to respond to, but it is certainly something that we will have a look at.

[Seema Malhotra (Feltham and Heston) (Lab/Co-op)]

In June, the Secretary of State said on “The Andrew Marr Show” that

“We’ve got 50, nearly 60 sector analyses already done.”

In September, that was reiterated in response to my freedom of information request. In October, the Secretary of State confirmed that to our Committee and said that the reports were in “excruciating detail” and that the Prime Minister had seen the summaries. In November, we heard that they never existed. On what basis can completed reports be uncompleted, and on what basis is it right that the Government do anything other than give the reports in full to the Select Committee, in line with the resolution of this House?

[Mr Walker]

The Government have provided the reports covering the 58 sectors to the Select Committee, and I look forward to the Select Committee being able to scrutinise them in detail. The hon. Lady has been persistent in pressing for as much of this information as possible to be put in the public domain. Her Front-Bench team have also been persistent in recognising that that could not be done with all the information, subject to negotiations, without damaging our national interest.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Seema Malhotra and Robin Walker

Thursday 2nd November 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Mr Robin Walker)]

I thank my hon. Friend for that important question. Yes, we are aware of that important evidence. We will of course continue to work with the industry to ensure we have the best approach to future negotiations on this front, but it is reassuring to hear that confidence from the aviation industry, which is very important to the UK.

[Seema Malhotra (Feltham and Heston) (Lab/Co-op)]

T5. Ministers have kindly committed today to coming back to the House with their response to last night’s vote “in due course”. We know that “shortly” meant four months. Will Ministers confirm what they mean by “in due course”, and if they do not know yet, when will they?

Exiting the EU: Sectoral Impact Assessments

Debate between Seema Malhotra and Robin Walker

Wednesday 1st November 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Mr Robin Walker)]

This is an important issue, and we have always taken incredibly seriously our commitment to transparency in the negotiations, but we also take incredibly seriously our commitment to the national interest and to the vote in this House last December which concluded that we should not publish anything that undermines it.

[Seema Malhotra (Feltham and Heston) (Lab/Co-op)]

Will the Minister give way?

[Mr Walker]

In a moment.

We have always tried to strike the right balance between those two commitments, and we intend to continue to do that in our response to the motion before us. I shall start by taking each part of the motion in turn.

[Seema Malhotra]

rose—

[Mr Walker]

Let me at least respond to the motion; I will then give way to the hon. Lady.

The first part of the motion calls for Ministers to publish the list of sectors that have been analysed. As the shadow Secretary of State, the right hon. and learned Member for Holborn and St Pancras (Keir Starmer), acknowledged, that has already been done—it was done before the motion was tabled.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Walker]

In a moment.

As set out in the document we published, we estimate that the 58 sectors covered account for around 88% of the UK economy, so they provide a comprehensive framework from which to analyse the entire economy. We believe that that approach to structuring our analysis has helped us to cover all relevant parts of the economy. Given that that list has been published, we feel that the first part of the motion has been addressed. The second part of the motion calls for the impact assessments arising from the sectoral analyses to be provided to the Exiting the European Union Committee.

[Seema Malhotra]

rose—

[Mr Walker]

I am happy to give way to the hon. Lady, who serves on the Committee, on that point.

[Seema Malhotra]

Will the Minister confirm that the list of sectors was not published directly to the House in a ministerial statement, despite more than 120 MPs calling for its publication? Will he also confirm that Parliament’s votes in October and December last year, to which he referred, were on Opposition day motions?

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Walker]

The House was quite keen to hear about some of this analysis, so I thought it would be helpful if I set out some of the details of what it is and what it is not. I have explained that the analysis is not a series of 58 economic impact assessments. It is a cross-sectoral analysis. It is not just work undertaken by our Department, as it draws on analysis and expertise from across the whole of Government. But it is not the case—and I do not believe that this Department or any of its Ministers has ever said that it is—that there are 58 economic impact assessments that neatly summarise what all the eventualities could mean for each sector.

[Seema Malhotra]

Will the Minister give way?

[Mr Walker]

I have given way once to the hon. Lady; I will not do so again.