Leaking of economic report 'an attempt to undermine Brexit'

• Video report by ITV News Political Correspondent Carl Dinnen

The leaking of economic analysis that showed Brexit will leave the UK worse off no matter what future deal is struck with the EU was "an attempt to undermine Brexit", a government minister has said.

Steve Baker said the leaked report, seen by BuzzFeed News, was "not what is formerly known as an impact assessment".

The government has faced calls to publish the analysis, with Labour's shadow Brexit minister Keir Starmer raising the issue as an urgent question on the issue in the House of Commons.

Prime Minister Theresa May sought to play down the leak, telling the weekly meeting of Cabinet that the paper represented "initial work" by officials which had not been signed off by ministers.

The report from the Department for Exiting the EU examines a range of potential Brexit scenarios, but shows in each case that economic growth would be lower than if Britain remained part of the bloc.

Even if the UK is able to negotiate a comprehensive free trade agreement - as the government plans - growth would be down 5% over the next 15 years, the report shows.

That would rise to 8% if Britain left without a deal and was forced to fall back on World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules, but fall to just 2% if the UK were to retain access to the single market.

The news has been seized upon by Remainers who have demanded the public to be told the true cost of leaving the EU.

Addressing MPs, Labour's Mr Starmer referred to the prolonged but ultimately successful attempts last year to have the government release its Brexit impact analysis.

"We've been here before. It took a great deal of time last year and the use of a humble address to force the government to release documents relating to Brexit," he said.

"The secretary of state has a chance today to avoid a repeat of that exercise if he commits to publishing this new analysis in full."

Responding, Brexit minister Steve Baker said the leaked report was "not what is formerly known as an impact assessment", earning jeers from the House.

He also went on the offensive, saying the leak was "an attempt to undermine our exit from the European Union", adding that MPs will be presented with "appropriate analysis" by the government when it comes to voting on any final deal agreed with the EU.

Remainers were unappeased. Tory former chancellor Ken Clarke said future generations would "be poorer than they otherwise would be" if the UK constructs "new barriers" between Britain and the EU.

Fellow Conservative Sir Nicholas Soames said many businesses in his Mid Sussex constituency were "already very nervous about the apparently cavalier attitude of some Brexiteer opinion to their companies' continued success".

But Mr Baker dismissed the suggestions, saying: "The government is not cavalier: it is precisely because we take seriously our duties that we are continuing to develop our economic analysis."

The government has stressed the document is only an "early draft" that basis its conclusion on assumption and is part of a range of continuing analysis.

It does not examine the government's planned "bespoke" trading agreement - details of which would only be fully clear once negotiations are concluded.

Earlier Jacob Rees-Mogg, the chairman of the pro-Brexit European Research Group (ERG) of Tory MPs, dismissed the findings of the leaked documents as "highly speculative".

He said similar modelling carried out by the Treasury ahead of the Brexit referendum - predicting large scale job losses if there was a vote to leave - had been "comprehensively wrong".

Meanwhile, Labour MP Chris Leslie, a member of the Open Britain group which campaigns against a "hard" Brexit, called for the report to be published.

"No one voted to make themselves or their families worse off," he said.

"The government must now publish their analysis in full, so that MPs and the public can see for themselves the impact that Brexit will have and judge for themselves whether it is the right thing for our country."

The leak has come at an awkward time for the government as its EU withdrawal bill makes its way through the Lords, where it will be subject to intense scrutiny.