Tag Archives: sectoral

Known liar says UK could lie about Brexit deal; what is the EU supposed to think?

[Cartoon: Ben Jennings.]

David Davis really should know when to keep his mouth shut – especially after his own Brexit ‘impact assessments’ debacle and the recent behaviour of his colleague Boris Johnson.

Let us remind ourselves of the disgrace with which Mr Davis has covered himself, courtesy of this video by Peter Stefanovic:

It is clear that Mr Davis lied about the existence of these documents. If anybody wants to split hairs about the difference between an “analysis” and an “assessment”, This Writer would urge them to look up a dictionary definition of both terms and consider whether there really is a huge difference between them.

Now he has said the last-minute agreement on the Irish border, citizens’ rights and the financial settlement between the UK and the EU27 on Brexit is “non-binding”.

According to the BBC: “He stressed that the deal struck by Theresa May on Friday to move to the next phase of talks was a “statement of intent” and not “legally enforceable”.

“Mr Davis has said “full alignment” would apply to the whole of the UK, not just Northern Ireland, but the Sunday Telegraph said Conservative Brexiteers had been reassured that it was “non-binding” and had been included to secure Ireland’s backing for the deal.”

This shows an extraordinary lack of intelligence from Mr Davis.

Only a few weeks ago, his colleague Boris Johnson caused an international incident when he said he believed Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been teaching journalism in Iran – confirming the claims of the Iranian authorities who had arrested her (such actions are considered to be ‘soft’ campaigning against the ruling regime there). In fact, she had been on holiday.

Of course the Iranians took Mr Johnson at his word and threatened to double Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s prison term. The imbecilic foreign secretary is in Iran at the time of writing, trying to put right his monumental blunder.

Now Mr Davis has made almost exactly the same kind of blunder – but one that could have far more serious repercussions for everybody in the UK.

And why not?

All they would be doing is judging him according to his character: He lied about the ‘impact assessments’ and he reckons Friday’s agreement is a lie as well.

And he is, after all, the UK minister responsible for Brexit.

The harm to Mr Davis’s reputation is indelible. If you want proof – look at the reaction to his claims about trade deals after Brexit.

He told Andrew Marr that the UK could sign a “Canada plus, plus, plus” trade deal with the European Union “the second after we leave”.

What do we think of that? See for yourself:

We have a Brexit Secretary who has ruined his own reputation with a silly lie – and giggled like a schoolgirl about it when his falsehood was exposed, let’s remember.

He has acted in extremely bad faith and the EU’s negotiators – not to mention the leaders of the other 27 nations – know it.

And he has ruined not only his own reputation but that of the UK internationally.

Still, he won’t be resigning any time soon. Theresa May is too weak to demand it and besides, the stupid Tory government will simply try to hide behind another lie.

Here it is, in fact:

“New sense of optimism?”

New smell of merde, more like!


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MPs urged to demand action against David Davis over claims he misled Parliament

David Davis [Image: Jack Taylor/Getty Images].

It seems the future of Brexit Secretary David Davis is in the hands of Hilary Benn and the members of the Commons Brexit Committee.

Mr Davis has repeatedly misled Parliament into believing that nearly 60 ‘sectoral impact assessments’ have been compiled into the effect of Brexit on the UK economy.

Now he has admitted that they do not exist – not one of them.

Today, David Lammy asked Commons Speaker John Bercow what action could be taken by MPs over this serious issue. Here is the exchange:

So it seems it is up to Brexit Committee chair Hilary Benn to demand proceedings against Mr Davis for contempt of Parliament.

But other MPs may also write to Mr Bercow.

Readers of This Site are strongly urged to ask constituency MPs to do so.

And any member of the public may write to Mr Bercow also, by emailing [email protected]


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David Davis has LIED REPEATEDLY to Parliament about Brexit impact assessments. He must resign now

This Site said David Davis would be in very deep trouble if he could not explain his behaviour. He has – and remains in deep trouble. But he thinks he is above reproach, like so many of his entitled, privileged Tory friends. And the above is his probable response to anyone who demands appropriate action.

What a difference a few hours can make. Only yesterday, This Writer was mocking the Tories for setting up a ‘reading room’ for MPs to examine the Brexit ‘sectoral impact assessments’, and now we find out they don’t exist!

Mr Davis has been using these nonexistent documents as a shield against Parliamentary opponents since the summer – deliberately lying to Parliament, and the country, over a period of several months.

He cannot claim he did not know these documents did not exist.

MPs (through the Queen, for goodness’ sake!) directed the Department for Exiting the European Union to make these assessments – nearly 60 of them – available to the Commons Brexit Committee on November 1.

No wonder it took DExEU no less than 27 days to provide – not 57 or 58 impact assessments but a single, 800-plus-page document. The impact assessments don’t exist.

Then DExEU set up a ‘reading room’ in which MPs were invited to read these nonexistent papers on a strictly limited basis. The mind boggles.

Now:

The government has not carried out any impact assessments of leaving the EU on the UK economy, Brexit Secretary David Davis has told MPs.

“There’s no sort of systematic impact assessment,” Mr Davis told the Brexit committee.

Committee chairman Hilary Benn asked whether impact assessments had been carried into various parts of the economy, listing the automotive, aerospace and financial sectors.

“I think the answer’s going to be no to all of them,” Mr Davis responded.

When Mr Benn suggested this was “strange”, the minister said formal assessments were not needed to know that “regulatory hurdles” would have an impact.

“I am not a fan of economic models because they have all proven wrong,” he added.

The vilification is practically overwhelming the social media:

Mr Lammy has written an information Twitter thread on this subject, providing a timeline:

There you have it: Contempt of Parliament; lying to Parliament; and of course evidence that Brexit will seriously harm the UK economy (in the absence of evidence that it will do us any good).

Where’s Mr Davis’s resignation?

Other commentators have been more brief in their criticisms:

https://twitter.com/Barkercartoons/status/938363498635104256

https://twitter.com/xugla/status/938363438014914560

https://twitter.com/Barkercartoons/status/938362573166137345

https://twitter.com/Barkercartoons/status/938366857299529728

Yes – we need action at once:

  • David Davis must resign, and
  • There must be a motion of no confidence in the Conservative government’s handling of Brexit.

These utterly incompetent, vain and arrogant Conservatives must make way for a government that can actually do a job properly.

Ed Miliband put it best, after the failure of talks on the Northern Ireland border:


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Tories show further contempt over Brexit impact assessments with pathetic ‘reading room’ offer

Robin Walker: Treating Parliament with disdain.

Is nobody else utterly sick of this?

After humming and hawing for almost a month about how he was to provide the Brexit impact assessments to members of Parliament, DExEU minister Robin Walker grudgingly handed over a single paper copy of more than 800 pages of information to the Commons Brexit Committee on November 27 – more than three weeks after he was initially ordered to hand over the information.

MPs responded with renewed threats to hold the government in contempt of Parliament – so now Mr Walker has come out with another lame offer.

He is going to make the information available in a ‘reading room’, for a limited period during days in which Parliament is sitting.

Here’s his letter to MPs:

The relevant parts state:

“As Lord Callanan and I have respectively told both Houses, and in response to the House of Commons motion of 1 November, we are writing to confirm the Government has made a reading room available in 100 Parliament Street from today, Monday 4 December.

“The reading room will allow Members and Peers to have access to the sectoral reports that were submitted to the Commons Committee on Exiting the EU and Lords EU Committee, on Monday 27 November. The reading room is available for the use of Members of both Houses only; it will not be accessible to Members’ staff.

“Members of both Houses of Parliament are invited to arrange a time to read the documents at 100 Parliament Street. The room will be open on days either House is sitting from 10:00 to 13:00 and 14:00 to 17:00. Appointments can be booked for one hour slots, but Members are welcome to book multiple hours back-to-back, or on separate visits. The room is limited to eight Members or Peers at one time and we strongly encourage all Members to make an appointment in advance as entry to the room unfortunately cannot be guaranteed without an appointment.”

Brexit challenger Gina Miller raises the obvious points:

Long after March 29, 2019, in fact – let’s remember that the reading room is only available on days when Parliament is sitting and MPs and Lords have other duties.

This is a derisory dismissal of the will of Parliament by the DExEU, a department that has come under increasing pressure since the motion for the impact assessments to be published was first passed – most particularly in its failure to reach agreement with the EU27 on important issues including the Northern Ireland border before the deadline this week.

And it leads to the obvious question:

Where are the complaints to Commons Speaker John Bercow that the government is treating Parliament with contempt?


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Tory liars suggest MPs can’t be trusted with Brexit impact assessments. So what? THEY DON’T EXIST

Robin Walker: Very well-groomed but he talks a load of codswallop.

David Davis and his Brexit gang have made fools of themselves with the claim that MPs can’t be trusted with the 58 sectoral “impact assessment” documents they have been ordered to release to the Commons’ Brexit committee.

After all, who lied to the Commons that these papers existed in “excruciating detail” (in a dig at Theresa May on October 26) – and then had to admit that they didn’t at all? David Davis.

So the implication by John Whittingdale today (November 28) that the full facts should not be shared because “leaks are not without precedent” is risible – Parliament has already proved itself to be far more trustworthy than a government whose minister lied about the form these documents took.

And Brexit minister Robin Walker’s attempt to justify the pig’s ear his department has made of the matter simply made it worse.

“The problem with the motion that was passed is it referred to sectoral impact analysis,” he said. “We were clear from the start that the motion did not exist in the form that was requested, therefore what we have done is to pull together sectoral analysis for the select committee and its scrutiny and I think that will prove valuable.”

Not true. DExEU was forced to go back on the claim that the assessments exist in “excruciating detail” once it became clear that Parliament was going to see exactly how “excruciating” that “detail” was. If the Commons hadn’t voted – unanimously – to have the reports delivered, in full, to the Brexit committee, David Davis, Robin Walker and their cronies would still be telling us that lie.

Now, despite having demanded time in order to “prepare the information” – by which some of us thought DExEU might actually try to divide the information into the 58 sectoral impact assessments we all expected – ministers have delivered to the Brexit committee a single 850-page document … with some of the details removed.

They’ve made a proper dogs Brexit breakfast out of it.

Tory David Davis was blasted today for suggesting members of Parliament’s Brexit committee could not be trusted with his secret Brexit papers.

The Brexit Secretary failed to hand over unredacted papers examining the possible impact of Brexit on sectors of the economy.

Labour MP Hilary Benn, who chairs the Commons Exiting the EU Committee, fumed in the Commons after ministers argued the full papers were not handed over as assurances of confidentiality were not given.

Mr Benn said he objected to “any suggestion” that he or the committee could “not be trusted” to handle the papers.

Source: David Davis blasted for suggesting MPs can’t be trusted with his secret Brexit papers


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Crisis point: May’s government risks being in contempt of Parliament over refusal to release Brexit papers

Theresa May’s minority Conservative government was in crisis after Parliament ordered her to release 58 secret studies into the economic effects of Brexit – and her ministers refused to say whether they would agree to the demand.

Labour’s Shadow Secretary for Exiting the EU, Keir Starmer, used an antiquated procedure called a “humble address”, in which the Queen is asked to direct that the documents – “sectoral impact assessments” – must be released.

As this was an Opposition motion, the government refused to allow Conservatives to vote on it. Several prominent Tories including Anna Soubry and Sarah Wollaston had spoken in favour of releasing the documents, prompting accusations that Mrs May knew she would lose the vote – and has lost control of the Parliamentary process of exiting the EU.

It meant the motion, for the assessments to be released to the Commons’ Brexit select committee for scrutiny, passed unanimously.

Independent Parliamentary clerks delivered a bombshell: The decision is binding on the government. That is to say that the governent must now deliver the documents or face the possibility of being found in contempt of Parliament.

And the Commons’ Speaker, John Bercow, said he would consider “carefully” any representations alleging contempt if the documents were not delivered promptly.

“I would consider that matter most carefully,” he said. “The question of time, in both the context of the decision taken by the House tonight and the wider context of public policy, is an important question, and yes, it does form part of the equation that the Chair would have to address.”

 

So, what happens now? Twitter has been a flurry of activity:

If Tom Newton Dunn’s tweet is accurate, then there could be more angry scenes as redacting the documents would be denying the will of Parliament and the government could still be facing allegations of contempt.

Last word – for now – should go to Dennis Skinner, who ended the debate by asking the Speaker: “I know that Mr Speaker likes to reply to points of order, so I will just throw him one. He and I have been here a long time, so, like me, does he feel that the Government are dying on their feet?”

Mr Bercow did not answer – perhaps because the answer is obvious.


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