MPs to vote on Withdrawal Agreement without all the economic facts

15th January 2019 / United Kingdom

Chair of the Treasury Committee: “When MPs do eventually come to vote on the Withdrawal Agreement, we will be doing so without all the (economic) facts.”

The Treasury Committee published its report on the Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration on 11 December 2018. Its conclusions included:

White Paper scenario in Government analysis cannot be used to inform meaningful vote
Parliament could draw from range of scenarios in Government analysis
Committee “disappointed” that Government has produced no short-term analysis of its deal Government should have modelled the Backstop
Bank of England confident that financial services sector can withstand No Deal Brexit

Chair’s comments

Commenting on the response, Rt Hon. Nicky Morgan MP, Chair of the Treasury Committee, said:

“The Treasury Committee’s report expressed disappointment that the Government modelled its White Paper, which represents the most optimistic reading of the Political Declaration, rather than a more realistic scenario.

“The report also expressed the Committee’s disappointment that the Government did not analyse the backstop and failed to include short-term analysis of any of the modelled Brexit scenarios.

“The Chancellor’s response to our report has shed no more light on these issues. When MPs do eventually come to vote on the Withdrawal Agreement next week, we will be doing so without all the facts.

“This is not a position which MPs, as representatives of constituents across the UK, should be put in by any Government.”