MEP blasts 'BLUSTERING' David Davis for Brexit 'farce' as she kicks off legal challenge
BRITISH MEP Molly Scott Cato launched a legal challenge on David Davis' failure to release a series of reports detailing the impact of Brexit on the British economy.
Green MEP slams David Davis for concealing Brexit reports
Ms Cato said Brexit had become a "farce" due to Mr Davis' unwillingness to make the impact reports public despite a vote from the British Parliament ordering him to.
She said: "I mean it’s really become a farce, hasn’t it? We are talking about the impact on the British economy of the biggest change for 40 years.
"I don’t believe him when he says he hasn’t got impact assessments and I don’t think it’s acceptable that the British people can’t know what’s in them."
Secretary Davis denied the existence of the reports in front of the Brexit Committee despite having previously claimed the studies could not be released due to "sensitive" content.
Speaking to EU Reporter, the Greens MEP continued: "We see David Davis blustering in front of the committee. First, the reports exist then they don’t exist. He’s like shrouding his impact assessment. But the reason we want to go to the law now is that there’s something clean about that.
"Politically maybe he’ll get away with it, but legally he will not get away with that because we need to say ‘you said those documents exist. We want you to release them.’"
It comes after the European Union called for the Phase 1 deal to be put into law after Mr Davis claimed it would not be enforceable.
The last minute, early morning deal settled the divorce bill, the Irish border and EU citizens’ rights, with the hope negotiations can now move on to trade.
EU boss: We've obtained what we wanted from Brexit talks
Mr Davis then talked bullishly about wanting a “Canada Plus Plus Plus” trade deal with the EU, suggesting that the UK would not pay the rumoured £39 million divorce bill otherwise.
His claims sparked the immediate reaction of the European Parliament (EP) Brexit coordinator Guy Verhofstadt, who slammed Mr Davis for being "unhelpful" – thus undermining the trust of the EU towards Britain.
In a draft statement, the leaders of the EP internal groups said: "Negotiations in the second phase can only progress as long as all commitments undertaken during the first phase are respected in full and translated faithfully in legal terms as quickly as possible.”
Mr Davis later clarified his position on Twitter: "Pleasure, as ever, to speak to my friend @guyverhofstadt – we both agreed on the importance of the Joint Report. Let's work together to get it converted into legal text as soon as possible. 1/2
"I look forward to working closely with the EP in the next phase, including on a top shared priority: ensuring admin procedures for citizens are as streamlined as possible in both the UK and EU. 2/2 @guyverhofstadt."