Thread by @BenChu_

A thread on the real world costs of government not being transparent.

🧵🦞

Last year the Shellfish Association of Great Britain @SAGB asked @DefraGovUK to provide full details of what it had been told by the EU about permissability of live exports to the bloc post-Brexit..1/

...Defra refused to pass on the details directly.

Instead, it gave a summary to the industry which turns out to have been incorrect.

Result: large quantities of live shellfish not being allowed into EU this year at huge cost to firms...2/

...Defra blames the EU for not being clear/covertly changing the rules.

The EU blames Defra for minsinterpreting the information it was given...3/

...but leave aside that blame game.

@SAGB says that *if* it had seen the full detail - as it asked for - it would have spotted something was wrong with Defra's interpretation.

So gov refusal to provide info seems to have *directly* imposed unnecessary cost and suffering...4/

...One to remember next time ministers complain about vexatious Freedom of Information requests or civil servants turn down requests citing commercial confidentiality.

Details from this week's environment committee report 👇

publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5801/cmse…

ENDS