‘Veil of secrecy’: Brexit committee says government denying MPs access to key decision-making details

European Scrutiny Committee writes to Michael Gove demanding transparency on EU/UK Joint Committee

Boris Johnson’s government has drawn a “veil of secrecy” over the procedure for making crucial decisions on the implementation of the Brexit withdrawal agreement, a parliamentary committee has said.

The European Scrutiny Committee said the move was hampering MPs’ ability to scrutinise the impact of Brexit, and wrote to Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove demanding advance notice of upcoming decisions at the UK/EU Joint Committee which oversees the agreement.

The matter came to a head following a 12 June meeting of the joint committee at which the government agreed a series of technical changes to the Brexit financial settlement and social security provisions without informing MPs of its position in advance.

The UK withheld consent for a series of amendments to the arrangements for the Northern Irish border proposed by the EU. But the scrutiny committee complained that even after the meeting was over, it was not clear whether Britain had rejected the changes - involving the application of single market rules - definitively or was still negotiating on them.

In its letter, the scrutiny committee said it was “disappointed” at the UK government’s failure to live up to a promise to do “everything it can” to keep MPs updated on the activities of the joint committee.

And it said that the government had “without any clear justification drawn a veil of secrecy” over the activities of a number of UK/EU specialised committees which carry out preparatory work to iron out disagreements between the two sides ahead of decisions in the joint committee.

This lack of transparency “hampers Parliament’s ability to effectively scrutinise their work, and their input into the work of the joint committee itself”, the Westminster committee warned in a report.

The cross-party group of MPs said it had only become aware of this month’s proposed changes to the 2019 Withdrawal Agreement because the European Commission provided details.

And it warned that it was “uncertain” whether the commission will continue to provide documents in the same way after the end of the UK’s transition out of the EU in December.

The scrutiny committee repeated a request made jointly with seven other parliamentary committees in March for advance publication by the UK government of all draft decisions and Britain’s position on them.

“It is clear that the effective parliamentary scrutiny of the government’s preparations for, and actions in, the joint committee will require a substantial change in your approach to transparency to ensure proper accountability of ministers for their position within those bodies,” the committee told Mr Gove.

European Scrutiny Committee chair Sir William Cash said: “The government’s current approach in informing parliament about its participation in the joint committee responsible for overseeing the implementation of the withdrawal agreement needs significant improvement, as my committee’s report illustrates.

“The government must be more open about the role of the joint committee and ensure effective parliamentary scrutiny of the decisions it takes within that committee.

“I expect the government to address the concerns raised in our report before the next joint committee meeting.”

A government spokesperson said: "We are committed to working transparently with parliament as it scrutinises the work of the withdrawal agreement joint committee. We have received the European Scrutiny Committee's report and will respond formally in due course.

"With regard to proposed amendments to the Northern Ireland protocol, we have been clear that we are not seeking to reopen or renegotiate the protocol. As we have set out in our Approach to the Protocol published last month, it must be implemented in a way that upholds the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement, preserves Northern Ireland’s place in the UK, and respects the unique circumstances of Northern Ireland. As such we support flexibilities that work for Northern Ireland businesses, and which minimise the impact of the protocol on the everyday life of communities."