The Conservatives know the scale of the disaster Brexit poses - and they want to keep voters in the dark, says Labour's leader in the European Parliament.
If Brexit is going to be so great, why have so many Brexiters been opposed to the government releasing its Brexit impact assessments? Why keep them hidden away if it’s going to be glorious? And why not show the EU that we’ll do spiffingly when we leave thank you very much, deal or no deal?
As has become more and more evident as the weeks tick by, the truth is that this Tory government will not be able to deliver on the Leave campaign’s promises, and never will. And they have fifty-eight documents to prove it.
It’s a trove of evidence to go alongside all the warnings we’ve seen of the reality of what a disastrous Tory Brexit will look like.
The studies cover sectors representing 88 per cent of the UK economy; if you work there, your government knows how Brexit will affect you – but doesn’t want you to know. From agriculture, animal health and food and drink manufacturing; to the automotive industry; to medical services and social care; to financial services, the 58 sectors covered by the reports map the sphere of the entire UK economy.
And given what we’ve learnt just this week about the impact of Brexit on those four sectors alone, it’s no wonder Brexiters would rather Parliament and the public were kept in the dark:
- On Monday, the Healthcare Distribution Association (HDA), an organisation representing firms that supply 92 per cent of the NHS’s medicines, warned Britain’s medicines bill could jump by £100 million a year if pharmacies are not able to source cheaper drugs from the Continent after Brexit
- On Tuesday, the Bank of England warned that up to 75,000 jobs could be lost in financial services following Britain’s departure from the European Union
- On Wednesday, the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) Food, Farming & Countryside Commission revealed that most of the UK’s fruit and veg is from other EU nations, so the Brexit impact “may be dramatic”
- Also on Wednesday, car industry executives told the Prime Minister that Brexit poses huge risks to the auto sector at a high-level No 10 meeting;
- And on Thursday, the Nursing and Midwifery Council warned the NHS faces a staffing shortfall: one in ten EU nurses left their jobs in Britain last year – a 67 per cent rise in Europeans quitting the profession.
Throw in the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) report that said British households are already more than £600 a year worse off each following the vote to leave the European Union – and it’s hardly surprising the Brexiters are desperate to keep the impact assessments locked up.
Even David Davis this week conceded Britain’s Brexit withdrawal agreement is likely to favour the European Union, not the UK, in money terms.
They will do anything to avoid debate on the facts, the evidence, the reality, the rationality of the Brexit course this Tory government is set on. We have a menagerie of ministers groping around, trying desperately to evade scrutiny from parliament and the public.
And no, the release of these documents will not weaken the UK’s hand in the negotiations, a hand that is being weakened daily by the chaos and confusion, disaster and division at the heart of the Tory government.
What they really fear is that public opinion will change, as voters learn more about the impact of Brexit on their everyday lives.
As Keir Starmer said, it is completely unacceptable for the Tories to spend months avoiding scrutiny and trying to keep the public in the dark.
Ministers cannot continue to withhold vital information from Parliament and the public about the impact of Brexit on jobs and the economy – it’s time for them to fess up and face the music.
Richard Corbett MEP is Labour’s Leader in the European Parliament
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10 Responses to “Why the Tories are terrified of releasing the Brexit impact papers”
Jimmy Glesga
Goodness me you EU junkies cannot accept that the British people have twigged. WE ARE OUT.
THE FREE LUNCHES ARE OVER. MEPS will have to get a real job.
patrick newman
Jimmy, the vote was clear but only just over a third of British adults supported Brexit (i.e. not including EU citizens living here). Perhaps some were like me who voted Brexit because of the patronsing and insulting attitude of Messrs Cameron and Osborne.
Heidstaethefire
A victory of 52% – 48% is not what I would consider clear, Patrick, given that a swing of just 2% would have changed the result. Indeed Faraggo, before the election, solemnly intoned that the process was not over with just such a result.
NMac
This realistic assessment makes frightening reading. It seems that the only justification Brexiteers have is, “The Will of the People.” The conflict-ridden Tories, many of whom yearn to turn the clock back almost 50 years, have a distorted view of the myth of Empire, which of course they never ever knew, and their xenophobic racist views make them incapable of working alongside people from other nations, unless they are lording it over them. I look forward to seeing the nasty Tory Party finally splitting asunder in a way which will not allow its rapidly ageing electorate ever to vote them into power again.
Gary Burns
The people have voted is the mantra we always hear, but the people also voted for an NHS that the Tories don’t seem too keen to shout about, Brexit is a disaster and it is time for the country to wake up and take stock; get the full facts (if only) and yes even go to a second vote.