The Government’s negotiating objectives: the White Paper

The House of Commons Exiting the EU Committee issued a report called The Government’s negotiating objectives: the White Paper on the 4 April 2017.

Without an economic assessment of 'no deal' having been done and without evidence that steps are being taken to mitigate what would be the damaging effect of such an outcome, the Government's assertion that 'no deal is better than a bad deal', is unsubstantiated.

The Government should set out what contingency planning is taking place for the risk that there is 'no deal' at the end of the Article 50 negotiating period and undertake an economic and legal assessment of such an outcome – in which the UK would fall back on trading under World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules – the cross-party Exiting the EU Committee concluded in its report.

• Primary Source

UK: Parliament: House of Commons: Parliamwntary Business: News, 04.04.17: 'No deal is better than a bad deal' claim unsubstantiated http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/exiting-the-european-union-committee/news-parliament-2015/brexit-white-paper-report-published-16-17/

United Kingdom: Department for Exiting the European Union: Legislating for the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union (Cm 9446 (March 2017) http://www.europeansources.info/record/legislating-for-the-united-kingdoms-withdrawal-from-the-european-union/

ESO: In Focus: Brexit - The United Kingdom and the European Union http://www.europeansources.info/record/brexit-the-united-kingdom-and-the-european-union/

BBC News, 04.04.17: Brexit committee warns of impact of no deal being reached http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-39482530

Blog: Institute for Government, 04.04.17: The UK should assess the impact of ‘no deal’ on Brexit https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/should-uk-assess-impact-no-deal-brexit

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