GETTY Ministers have been accused of 'burying' a damaging Whitehall report

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A document released by civil servants yesterday also confirms that the Government cannot block EU migrants from “rights to enter, live and work” in the UK. It details how Britain has an “obligation to comply” with all EU laws, making clear the Charter of Fundamental Rights is “binding” on all 28 member nations. The report on the “Rights and obligations of EU membership” was the last in a series of documents which the Government was legally required to publish in time for today’s official start of the referendum campaign. But unlike previous publications in the series, the 96-page dossier appeared without fanfare yesterday.

It was released quietly on a Government website and announced with a written statement to MPs. Last night campaigners for a British exit in the forthcoming in-out referendum on June 23 criticised the low-key release of the report.

It’s shocking that the Government has cynically buried its own report Matthew Elliott, Vote Leave

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the Vote Leave campaign group, said: “It’s shocking that the Government has cynically buried its own report because it admits how much control we’ve handed to the EU. “On top of leaving EU judges in control of our borders, our economy and even those who can vote in our democracy, we hand Brussels £350million every week.”

Senior Tory MP Bill Cash, chairman of the Commons European Scrutiny Committee, said: “The Government is failing to tell the truth about the undemocratic basis of the working of the EU and its impact on everybody’s lives in the UK.

GETTY It states the Government cannot block EU migrants from 'rights to enter, live and work' in the UK

“So many decisions are taken behind closed doors in Brussels and then pushed through Parliament, affecting our lives on a daily basis.” Previous reports – on the process of withdrawing from the EU, possible alternatives to EU membership and the UK’s supposed “special status” – were widely publicised on release. This final report, however, sets out in stark detail the full force of Brussels law as it is applied to the UK.

GETTY The report was released quietly on a Government website and announced with a written statement to MP

“Directives set out a legal framework that the member states have to follow,” it says. “Once an EU directive has been agreed all member states have an obligation to make national laws that give it effect.” It also says: “EU fundamental rights are binding on member states when they act within the scope of EU law.” Vote Leave campaigners say the clause is an admission the EU charter – which covers a range of social and employments rights – does apply in the UK.

GETTY The Prime Minister’s spokeswoman yesterday denied the report had been buried