IAN Blackford MP has insisted the Prime Minister must publish the UK Government’s analysis on her Brexit deal ahead of a Parliamentary vote, claiming that failing to do so is the “height of irresponsibility”.
The MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber and Westminster SNP leader (pictured) said that after raising the issue with Theresa May during Prime Minister’s Questions last month, he received a letter from May, confirming that analysis “focusing on the relative impacts of different trading relationships in the long term” does exist.
He has now called on May to publish the analysis claiming that it is not possible to vote “while blind to the consequences” of her deal.
He said: “Theresa May has confirmed UK Government analysis of her Brexit deal exists – now we must see it. It is the height of irresponsibility for the Prime Minister to bring her deal to Parliament without providing the analysis of its impact – we know her deal will cost jobs.
“It is ludicrous for MPs to be asked to vote on a deal while completely blind to the economic consequences. The Prime Minister must end this shroud of secrecy – and come clean with MPs and the country.”
In the letter May claimed that analysis showed her deal offered “significantly higher economic output” than a no-deal scenario. She insisted the Government was providing “ongoing scrutiny” and said she would update Parliament “in the usual way”.
Meanwhile May has been given a warning by senior Tories that the “monumental” problems with her Brexit plan cannot be solved by “cursory tweaks”.
The Prime Minister is seeking changes to the backstop measure to prevent a hard border with Ireland but was told by former Cabinet ministers that may not be enough to win support in Westminster.
“The backstop in anything like its present form is simply never going to pass the Commons,” former ministers – Remainer Nicky Morgan and Brexiteers Iain Duncan Smith and Owen Paterson – wrote in the Daily Telegraph.
This came after May held talks in Dublin with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar on Friday along with the UK’s Brexit negotiator Olly Robbins and her chief of staff Gavin Barwell.
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