Does The Brexit Dept Need A Safe Space?

[Kromovaracun]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/oct/30/government-refuses-to-release-details-of-studies-into-economic-impact-of-brexit

Upon being urged by MPs to publish a report on the impact of Brexit across 58 key industries, the Department for Exiting the EU has refused, claiming it needs a "safe space" to conduct policy in private.

//"There is a strong public interest in policy-making associated with our exit from the EU being of the highest quality and conducted in a safe space to allow for design and deliberation to be done in private,” the Department for Exiting the EU (DExEU) said.

“In this case, releasing the commissioning document for this exercise, which is still a live policy issue, may undermine the effective formulation or development of policies which are key to our negotiating strategy."//

Why on earth would they think publishing this research would undermine their policymaking? Is govt use of "safe spaces" to deny information a healthy precedent?

[Khandro]

David Davis is, perhaps unfairly, being likened to Swiss Tony by the unkind;
"negotiating Brexit Paul, is like making love to a beautiful woman; first you ............. and then you.........? "

[TheChair]

I'd have thought it was pretty obvious. All their research will show exactly how badly each sector of the UK economy will be damaged due to Brexit, which means they will be negotiating from an extremely weak position. Unfortunately, refusing to publish is a bit like pleading the fifth: once you do it, everyone knows you're guilty.

[ToraToraTora]

as we are leaving anyway what possible purpose could it serve?

[Kromovaracun]

It could influence our priorities for the terms of our departure, 3T.

It would also be useful to contrast this paper with the one recently published by the EU parliament, so that we have a sense of what each side thinks the stakes are.

[Gromit]

Parliament is there to serve the people, but too many MPs forget that treat it as their own personal fiefdoms. As is the case with Davis. Public money has been spent on gathering and assessing data and the results will be very useful to the public to prepare for post Brexit. Only the public are not allowed to see it, presumably because it is bad news for most industries.
Our Brexit negotiating team are a shower, and we will get the worse possible outcome.

[Khandro]

Gromit; //Our Brexit negotiating team are a shower, and we will get the worse possible outcome.//

Re. your use of the pronouns, 'our' and 'we'. It is encouraging to see that you are now considering yourself as having a stake in the process ;0)
I agree about the UK team, but it applies also to the EU side, choosing Barnier was not only cynical it was as bad a choice for the EU as it was for the UK.
The choice of almost any Frenchman would be a mistake because when it come to negotiation the French and the British are worlds apart.
The laws in these two countries are basically different. In Britain they are essentially made from grass roots upwards, Common Law, and in France they come from the top downwards, Napoleonic Law.
In France, life follows the law, in Britain the law follows life.
I think the way forward would be to seek an intermediary.

[jim360]

Nice to see Khandro's post. I was worried that Agincourt was but a distant memory.

[Khandro]

Perhaps we need The Terminator instead of Swiss Tony?
https://www.rt.com/uk/408298-nigel-farage-brexit-barnier/?utm_source=spotim&utm_medium=spotim_recirculation&spotim_referrer=recirculation

[cassa333]

The trouble with this is that where Remainers see boubt, and disaster Brexiters see opportunity.

Each side will spin the side they want.

It is patiently obvious that the EU will court Europhiles in gathering information and allies etc. So Nigel Farage is right. Get some Euro sceptics and Brexiters in for a chat.

All that publishing every paper will do is give a fit of the vapours to one side or the other.

Get on and negotiate. Exit means out of the EU, and single market etc etc etc.

The negotiations are then very clear. What can we get for the best price.

[Old_Geezer]

It'd just give those who insist on speading Project Fear more opportunity to stir up trouble whilst not helping anything or anyone at all. Minor economic distruption would be leapt on and exagerated as some kind of ultimate disaster whilst opening up of world trade dismissed; and the vital gain of being in control of one's own decisions not even recognised because it isn't in that blinkered view of 'economics only'. Why show the world, including EU and it's negotiators, your thinking ? Why cripple your hand when agreeing deals ? It's the same sort of unhelpful insistence we've already heard regarding telling our negotiators to state what they offer, unilaterally, and then expect a good result. In my opinion, calls for such openness seem rather naive.

[Gromit]

The scandal is not that the information (which was paid for from the public purse) is not being diseminated to the public because they might turn against Brexit if its consequences are divulged. The scandal is that this information was only collected AFTER the vote, when it was too late for people to make a choice based on actual data, rather than euroskeptics soundbites.

[Kromovaracun]

People will spin it?

Is that really a sufficient reason to refuse publication, cassa/OG? The government should just withhold information to the public because some annoying journalists might spin it? How does that make any sense?

Surely if the Brexit dept pubished their research, we'd all be able to check if the media "exaggerations" were true or not.

[Old_Geezer]

How can it not make sense to prevent our own country crippling it's chance to thrive ?
How can it make sense to support wrecking our chances ?

[sunny-dave]

@Gromit :

Perhaps if the Remain side had been more assiduous in gathering and disseminating "the data" (quote marks because 'data' very often shows what the gatherers want it to show), rather than just pushing the "FEAR" button and assuming the proles would do as they were told, you wouldn't be having to bewail the result and its (so far entirely hypothetical) disastrous consequences?

[Kromovaracun]

I don't think it's any secret that the Remain campaign was run in a disastrous and completely wrongheaded way (in large part because its leadership involved one D. Cameron, one of the worst leaders in Britain's postwar history). Gromit's right, this research should have been commissioned far earlier.

[sunny-dave]

In answer to the OP - we may need a safe space (why reveal all your cards to the other side?), but we definitely need some professional negotiators rather than the bunch of useless amateurs we have at the moment.

Where is Sir Humphrey when you need him ... ?

[ToraToraTora]

that's the problem dave, the vichy British just love to give advantage to the enemy, ie their EU friends because they are still whining about not getting their own way in the referendum

[Kromovaracun]

//How can it not make sense to prevent our own country crippling it's chance to thrive ?
How can it make sense to support wrecking our chances ?//

Why do you think the Brexit dept's own research into the impact of Brexit might "wreck our chances"? Surely you'd expect the Dept to produce the most optimistic forecasts as compared to OECD?

Why do you think permitting people to criticise Brexit is harming the country's prospects? What exactly is the point of all this "taking back control" stuff if citizens lose the right to criticise the government (or indeed each other)?

[Peter Pedant]

Jeremy Corbym said of the Brexit safe space:

as usual the Tories are groping in the dark....
we are getting the usual knee jerk reaction

[Khandro]

PP Yes, he always likes to avoid clichés