David Mundell says there’s no Scotland-specific report into the impact of Brexit

Speaking to Holyrood’s Europe committee, the Secretary of State said the analysis carried out by civil servants into how leaving the EU would affect Scotland was spread throughout the Government’s 58 reports on the UK’s key economic sectors.

Mundell told MSPs that, while there had been reports that a Scotland-specific paper existed, this was not the case and it had never been his intention to suggest otherwise.

He added: “There is not a Scotland-specific analysis – there is analysis of these sectors and how they apply within Scotland”.

Committee convener Joan McAlpine asked why no specific paper had been prepared.

He replied: “Because the analysis is in relation to sectors that will be impacted on by leaving the EU.

“Obviously many of these sectors are very prominent in Scotland, and therefore Scotland’s interests in those sectors are part of the analysis. But these are UK-wide analyses of important sectors.”

The papers were first mentioned by Westminster Brexit Minister David Davis’s former chief of staff, James Chapman, who said the Government had analysis showing Scotland and the North East of England would lose most from Brexit.

Tory ministers are reluctant to publish the papers, suggesting that it could hurt the UK’s negotiating position with Brussels. But on Wednesday, MPs backed a Labour attempt to use an arcane parliamentary procedure in the House of Commons to force the Government to now release these papers.

In Holyrood yesterday, McAlpine, asked the Scottish Secretary if that vote meant he would publish his department’s analysis.

Mundell said the Government was “reflecting” on the vote.

“Of course the Government respects the decisions of Parliament and indeed the decisions of this Parliament.

“But on the other hand the Government has a duty to act in the best interests of the United Kingdom and the Government still believes sharing all the information that is contained within these analysis would not be in the best interests of the United Kingdom in terms of being able to carry out these negotiations to achieve the best possible outcome.”

He said: “Our position remains that putting these analyses into the public domain would not be beneficial to the interest of the UK as we take these negotiations forward.”

SNP MSP Mairi Gougeon wasn’t impressed with the minister’s answer.

“I have to say, I think the responses you have given today give me absolutely no confidence that a good outcome will be achieved,” she said.

“People are entitled and people have a right to know how this is going to impact on their lives and that information needs to be forthcoming.”

Mundell replied: “Well, we are just not going to agree on that, are we?”

After the meeting, McAlpine said: “I was astonished to hear that the UK Government has not assessed the impact that Brexit could have on Scotland. It was very concerning that Mr Mundell hasn’t commissioned any impact assessments in his capacity of the Secretary of State for Scotland – how else can Scotland’s interests be taken into account in these negotiations?”

“Mr Mundell’s responses on the position of EU citizens will not offer reassurances in relation to their future in Scotland.”

Davis yesterday promised the Government would be “as open as we can be” with the Brexit reports.

Technically, the vote in the Commons-only committee binds the Government to release the sector analysis to Westminster’s Exiting the EU Select Committee. Davis tried to downplay the importance of the reports, telling MPs the documents were not “some sort of grand plan, they’re data about the regulations and the markets of individual sectors”.