David Davis told a committee of MPs on Wednesday that the UK government had produced no economic forecasts on the likely impact of Brexit on various sectors of the economy.
It seemed to stand in marked contrast to many of the things he had said before about analysis being carried out by his Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU).
See if you can identify where and when Davis has previously talked about the impact studies and analysis being carried out on a sectoral basis.
Can you identify when and where David Davis said these things?
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“It will take some months to analyse many of the industrial and commercial effects of various options, and to do the analysis on the negotiating balance – where our allies might and might not be. We will take some time – the process has already started.”
House of Lords select committee on the European Union – 12 September 2016
He did not say it
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“There is the sectoral analysis: they [staff at DExEU] are working through about 50 cross-cutting sectors – what is going to happen to them, what the problems of those industrial groups are, and so on.”
House of Commons foreign affairs committee – 13 September 2016
He did not say it
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“The government continue to undertake a wide range of analysis covering all parts of the UK to inform the UK’s position for the upcoming negotiation with the European partners.”
House of Commons – 20 October 2016
He did not say it
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“We currently have in place an assessment of 51 sectors of the economy.”
House of Commons – 20 October 2016
He did not say that
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“We are carrying out an extensive programme of sectoral analysis on the key factors that affect our negotiations with the European Union.”
House of Commons – 1 December 2016
He did not say this
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“The department is carrying out a programme of work to analyse the economic significance and trade dynamics of more than 50 sectors of the economy. That includes analysis at both national and regional levels.”
House of Commons – 1 December 2016
He did not say that
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“We are in the midst of carrying out about 57 sets of analyses, each of which has implications for individual parts of 85% of the economy. Some of those are still to be concluded.”
House of Commons exiting the European Union committee – 14 December 2016
He did not say it
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“We continue to analyse the impact of our exit across the breadth of the UK economy, covering more than 50 sectors – I think it was 58 at the last count – to shape our negotiating position.”
House of Commons – 2 February 2017
He did not say that
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“In my job I don’t think out loud and I don’t make guesses. Those two things. I try and make decisions. You make those based on the data. That data’s being gathered. We’ve got 50, nearly 60 sector analyses already done.”
Andrew Marr Show – 25 June 2017
He did not say that
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“She [Theresa May] will know the summary outcomes of them. She will not necessarily have read every single one. They are in excruciating detail.”
House of Commons exiting the European Union committee – 25 October 2017
He did not say that
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“We too are conducting a broad range of analysis at the macroeconomic and sectoral level to understand the impact of leaving the EU on all aspects of the UK, including the agriculture sector.”
Statement attached to a letter from Davis to Lady Verma, chair of the House of Lords EU external affairs sub-committee – 30 October 2017
He did not say that
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“It is not the case that 58 sectoral impact assessments exist.”
Written statement to parliament – 7 November 2017
He did not say that
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“There is no systematic impact assessment.”
House of Commons exiting the EU committee – 6 December 2017
He did not say that
Solutions
1:A - Asked if he thought it would be difficult to find people with the skills to do the analysis, Davis replied: "Not really, so far, because most of what we have been doing so far has leant heavily on the other departments. When we come to the stage that I mentioned to Lord Green – doing the quantification, the analysis and so on – it may be a bit more difficult, unless I rest heavily on the Treasury.”, 2:A - In the same session, Davis told Mike Gapes MP that the analysis was expected to be complete before the triggering of article 50, 3:A - This was in reply to the Plaid Cymru MP Jonathan Edwards., 4:A - This was in reply to the SNP MP Stephen Gethins. Davis additionally reassured him: “Given the hon gentleman’s context, I should mention that we are also doing the assessment in a way that will throw up whether something has an impact on the individual nations of the United Kingdom, as well as on the UK as a whole.”, 5:A - On this occasion, Davis again stated that the analysis would be complete before article 50 was triggered. “We will get it right by doing the analysis first and the notification second. I will do that,” he said., 6:B - TRICK QUESTION! Sorry. It was actually David Davis's departmental colleague David Jones who told the House of Commons this in December 2016., 7:A - During this meeting Davis also said: “We have got a lot to do … but that is one of the reasons why we are taking our time to get prepared on all fronts. That is why our 57 studies cover 85% of the economy – everything except sectors that are not affected by international trade.”, 8:A - Davis made these comments in parliament as he launched the government's Brexit white paper., 9:A - It should be noted, as some MPs moved to have Davis held in contempt of parliament, that the quotes from the TV interview are held to a different standard from the idea that Davis may have misled parliament., 10:A - Davis made these comments in reply to the Labour MP Seema Malhotra, who had been trying to obtain the reports via freedom of information requests., 11:A - An annex at the foot of the document listed the 58 specific sectors that the department claimed to be looking at., 12:A - Davis was responding to a motion passed in the House of Commons that the reports must be released to the sub-committee dealing with Brexit., 13:A - Davis appeared before the House of Commons committee and was questioned about the existence of the reports. The committee decided that since the reports did not exist, he could not be held in contempt of parliament for not revealing them.
Scores
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12 and above.
Unlucky! It was the trick question in the middle that got you, wasn't it?
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0 and above.
Good try, but all but one of these were actual quotes or statements signed by David Davis
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13 and above.
Well done. You correctly identified all the quotes – even the trick question in the middle
