Government refuses to publish dossier on economic impact of COVID

Politics

Government officials have drawn up a detailed dossier looking at the impact of coronavirus on every economic sector which it is refusing to publish.

The Business Department has drawn up a spreadsheet looking at the size of each sector, the concerns of each sector, its financial stability and whether there will be job losses.

Officials have colour-coded green, yellow and red the various impacts. It covers dozens of sectors from aviation to tourism, Sky News understands, but does not break down the impact of different tiers on the various sectors.

The existence of the dossier was first reported by The Times.

The timing has inflamed Tory MPs already angry that the government’s analysis published on Monday on the health, economic and social effects of coronavirus did not go into any substantial details about the impact of restrictions. The revelation there is a secret dossier with more detailed assessments has left MPs unimpressed.

Michael Gove argued this morning that most of the data in the dossier was in the public domain so there was no need to release it.

In a hearing with the Treasury Select Committee, Office of Budget Responsibility chairman Richard Hughes insisted the Treasury had not discussed the reported “secret dossier” detailing red, amber and green-rated impacts on sectors of the economy.

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He said the OBR shared with the Treasury its own impact analysis, although that was based on the previous tier system.

Mr Hughes added that the Treasury had largely only revealed its research showing the impact of previous restrictions on infection rates.

Labour could try and force disclosure of the dossier using the Commons.

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