Last week, disgruntled MPs walked out of a meeting of the Commons Brexit Select Committee — chaired by Hilary Benn — in protest at a report they claimed was ‘too gloomy’. Today that report has been published in its 155-page entirety. As expected, the committee is divided over its contents — with Tory members of the committee objecting to it. Dominic Raab says it is ‘rushed, skewed and partisan’, while his fellow committee member Alistair Carmichael claims it’s a devastating critique that shows ‘the government’s handling of Brexit makes a Jeremy Corbyn reshuffle look like a smooth operation’.
The Commons Brexit Select Committee is split over its latest report
The main source of contention concerns two paragraphs on the effects of a ‘no deal’. In contrast to Theresa May’s claim that no deal is better than a bad deal, it says that a ‘no deal’ in the negotiations represents ‘a very destructive outcome leading to mutually assured damage for the EU and the UK’ — and it is therefore ‘very important’ that this outcome is avoided.
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