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Our judicial review tries to force Govt to make public its secret reports showing how Brexit will affect eg agriculture or car making. /1
We think democracy can't function without truth and transparency. That's what went wrong in June 2016. It can't happen again. /2
Govt says 'it will hurt our negotiating hand if the EU knows how badly Brexit will hit the UK.' Like, somehow, the EU can't do modelling. /3
And Govt released an impact assessment on Brexit before the Referendum. If it was the right thing to do then, how can it be wrong now? /4
And there's a stream of 'good news stories' from Liam Fox. It makes you wonder: Good Brexit stories good, bad Brexit stories bad? /5
Anyway, the truth is, there's nothing in these reports the EU can't work out for itself. So why won't the Government release them? /6
What's unique about these reports is that they come from the Government's hand. So Government can't say: "We don't accept this analysis." /7
Is the fact that they possess a unique ability to embarrass Government a good *political* reason to keep them secret? Why, of course! /8
Is the fact that they possess a unique ability to embarrass Government a good *legal* reason to keep them secret? Umm, no. Hence our JR. /9
There's also a rather good subplot. Alongside the *sectorial* analyses, there are also *regional* analyses. /10
We know there are regional analyses because Hammond said there were. /11 
But if you ask DExEU for the regional analyses, they claim that even to tell you whether they *exist* would harm the national interest. /12
Which is kind of funny for a number of reasons. First off, it's just ludicrous. How can knowing whether they exist be harmful? /13
Second, how can it be fine for us to know there are sectorial analyses but not regional analyses? /14
Third, Hammond has told us they exist. How can it harm the national interest for a civil servant to confirm the Chancellor wasn't lying? /15
The reality is, they've worked out the sectorial analyses are a hot potato and don't want another one - regional analyses - to juggle. /16
Is this a good *political* reason to deny they exist? Not really, as Hammond has admitted they exist. And it's no *legal* reason at all. /17
If this all feels to you like a right bloody shambles, then so far so good: you're following my thread. But there's more. /18
We know the EU knows what Brexit means, including for the UK, because they've *published a study*. europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes… /19
And, richest of all ironies? The man refusing to confirm the sun will rise tomorrow for fear of political embarrassment is David Davis. /20
Would that be the same David Davis who wrote this paragraph? Before being a Minister? Reader, it would. /Ends
