A government minister has played down the significance of a leaked Brexit analysis that says the UK would be worse off outside the European Union under every scenario modelled – and said it would not be in the "national interest" to publish it.

Steve Baker, a minister at the Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU), came under pressure from MPs on all sides to release the assessment exclusively revealed by BuzzFeed News last night.

But he said the analysis had not yet been completed and was "not yet anywhere near being approved by ministers". He told the House of Commons: "The government cannot be expected to publish that analysis while the negotiations continue, which would surely harm the national interest."

Baker also claimed that BuzzFeed News’ article was "a selective interpretation of a preliminary analysis" and "an attempt to undermine our exit from the European Union". And he said that civil service forecasts were "always wrong" – a claim that sparked anger from a civil servants' union.

Baker's comments were not well received by some Tory MPs. Antoinette Sandbach, who represents Eddisbury, Cheshire, said: "Quite frankly, minister, I take exception to being told that it's not in the national interest for me to see the report that allows me to best represent my constituents."

Heidi Allen, Tory MP for South Cambridgeshire, added: "It is our role, as accepted by government, to scrutinise the deal to ensure it is the very best it can be for all our citizens ... This is a one-time deal only and I for one owe it to my constituents to show I've exercised full scrutiny."

And Labour MP Pat McFadden, a former shadow Europe minister, said bluntly: "Ministers keep using the excuse that it is in the national interest to withhold information about the economic impact of Brexit – that is, on the days when they admit that such information exists.

"But I tell you what's really not patriotic, and that is to pursue a policy that will make your country poorer than it would otherwise be in order to satisfy right-wing nationalist ideology."

The report, titled “EU Exit Analysis – Cross Whitehall Briefing”, was prepared by officials across Whitehall for DExEU but Baker admitted he hadn’t seen the paper until its existence was revealed by BuzzFeed News.



Baker, who was a leading member of the European Research Group, an influential bloc of Eurosceptic Tory backbenchers, before becoming a Brexit minister last year, said it was a draft paper brought together for ministers this month in a "cross-Whitehall effort to support our negotiating priorities”.

"It has not been led by my department," he added.

The FDA union, which represents senior public servants, issued a statement in response to Baker's claims that government forecasts are "always wrong". General secretary Dave Penman said: "His remarks today not only insult the dedicated professionals working in his department and across the civil service, but they epitomise the current state of affairs in government.

"We have just witnessed the extraordinary scene of a serving minister telling the House that, whatever analysis his own department comes up with, he simply won't believe it. The public will rightly ask how this fingers-in-ears approach is supposed to help the country navigate such a complex and unprecedented challenge as leaving the EU."