Theresa May approved dossier showing any form of Brexit will harm UK economy
Brexit backers see contested report's release as a plot to bounce leading Leave campaigners Michael Gove and Boris Johnson into agreeing to a softer Brexit
BREXITEER ministers’ fury was mounting with Theresa May last night as it emerged she gave the green light to a controversial Brexit impact dossier.
The PM knew about the bitterly contested work before Christmas, No10 aides have admitted.
The study that shows any type of Brexit will harm the British economy was leaked on Monday.
Critics see it as a plot to bounce leading Leave campaigners Michael Gove and Boris Johnson into agreeing to a softer Brexit.
As pressure mounted on Mrs May today, she insisted she was “a believer in Brexit” and that Britain would have a “better economy” outside the EU.
No10’s plan – orchestrated by Cabinet Secretary Jeremy Heyward – was for the Cabinet Brexit war committee to be shown the grim projections ahead of two crunch meetings next week.
The Sun can also reveal that tensions among its 10 members will come to a head next week when it meets for two days in a row – Wednesday and Thursday – to thrash out the detail of Britain’s for a trade deal with the EU.
A Cabinet source said: “The study is clearly an attempt to bounce Michael and Boris into accepted close EU alignment.
“It’s disappointing that the PM allowed projections as flawed as this to go ahead.”
Furious Brexit minister Steve Baker denounced the study compiled by his own government’s economists within hours of its leaking on Tuesday as flawed, and insisted he had been told nothing about it.
His boss, Brexit Secretary David Davis, also claimed no knowledge of the work, and his allies blamed Mr Heywood for orchestrating it.
But a No10 spokesman yesterday admitted that the PM and other Brexit committee members were shown an early draft of it last week.
In a second embarrassment for No10 yesterday, the Government was also forced to climb down yesterday and agree to show MPs the projections.
A Commons vote to demand the move mounted by Labour was not opposed by ministers, who feared they would lose it because of a pro-EU Tory rebellion.
In comments designed to appease seething Eurosceptics, the PM said growth figures since the Referendum proved the “sky hadn’t fallen in”.
And she said during a trip to China: “I believe that outside the European Union we can not only project an image of global Britain but I believe we can see a better future for our economy.” It follows a revolt among furious Tory backbenchers who fear the PM has gone “soft” on Brexit after agreeing a ‘status quo’ transition deal with the EU.
She has also refused twice in recent months to say she would vote Brexit in the event of a second EU Referendum.
But challenged yesterday if “hand on heart” she believed in leaving the EU, she said: “Yes. At the time of the Referendum I voted Remain but I also said the sky wasn’t going to fall in if we left the EU.
“And as people will see from the economic figures we have seen actually that has indeed proved to be the case.
“I believe that outside the EU we can not only project global Britain but I believe we can see a better future for our economy.”
The PM added that it was clear the UK’s relationship with the EU “would change” once we leave the EU - in a barb at Chancellor Philip Hammond after his call for “very modest” differences last week.
Last night, arch Eurosceptic Jacob Rees Mogg said it was “great” the PM was “proposing a positive Brexit message”.
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He said: “It’s the right message to be giving and a great antidote to these the PM said absurd forecasts produced by a Treasury subsidiary.
He added: “I hope she tells Sun reporters on the flight home that she would now vote Brexit in a second Referendum.”
Yesterday polling expert Professor Sir John Curtice released research showing there is little evidence to suggest Brexit voters regret their decision.
He said just as many Remainers regretted backing EU membership as Leave voters regret their decision.
And he said there was equally little proof that voters want a second referendum.
He described reports in the Guardian last month claiming there was overwhelming support for a second referendum as “fake news” - saying there was no evidence to back it up.
Sir John - the only pollster to correctly predict last June’s General Election - also predicted Jeremy Corbyn would soften his stance on Brexit because Labour’s support base is now even more pro-EU than last June, with seven in ten of its supporters saying Brexit is the wrong decision.
At the election this figure was 65 per cent.