U.K. Judge Blocks Attempt to Force Release of Brexit Papers

(Bloomberg) -- A U.K. judge blocked an attempt by an anti-Brexit group to force the national government to release internal reports into the issues facing the country during and after it leaves the European Union.

Judge Michael Supperstone declined to back the motion by the Good Law Project on Tuesday. The group, organized by attorney Jolyon Maugham, wanted to force a judicial review because the Freedom of Information applications to the Brexit and Treasury departments to release documents will be slow, and other requests have been blocked.

“The claimants cannot avoid the legal regime established by Parliament,” the judge said. “FOI provides an available route for disclosure. There's nothing fundamentally unfair about the time frame” for a FoI filing.

U.K. lawmakers have twice forced the government to disclose Brexit analyses to them by winning votes in the House of Commons. While neither study has been officially released to the general public, backbench lawmakers from all parties have been allowed to view them in a locked reading room.

Members of Parliament “need to be able to make an informed decision when they come to vote on the Brexit deal,” Maugham said before the hearing. If there's no full disclosure of the documents, this “can't possibly be what democracy looks like. MPs need to be able to exercise their constitutional duty.”

--With assistance from Alex Morales

To contact the reporter on this story: Hannah George in London at hgeorge13@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net, Christopher Elser

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