The Government is unable to show MPs Brexit impact assessments for different sectors of the UK economy because they “don’t exist”, David Davis has admitted.

The Brexit Secretary put himself on a collision course with furious MPs who accused him of a “total dereliction of duty” as he said that “no systematic impact assessment” had been undertaken by the Government.

The House of Commons voted at the start of November to demand that ministers hand over the assessments but MPs were left disappointed at the apparent paucity of material which was eventually released.

That prompted suggestions that Mr Davis may have been in contempt of Parliament for failing to comply with the exact wording of the motion agreed by MPs.

But he told the Brexit Select Committee the reason his Department for Exiting the European Union had not handed over the impact assessments was that such work had not been undertaken.