Treasury Committee upset about being stood up by Vote Leave’s chief executive: “We’re all pretty grumpy”
MPs on the Treasury Committee launched an attack on the chief executive of Vote Leave this afternoon.
Andrew Tyrie accused Matthew Elliott, chief executive of Vote Leave, of “mucking around” the parliamentary committee.
He revealed the committee was “forced to summon you under a parliamentary order”, saying this was the first time he had seen such action taken on a committee.
Another MP on the committee told Elliott: “We're all pretty grumpy.”
Here is the letter sent to Elliott:
Read more: Vote Leave are not doing themselves any favours
Tyrie said: “I think frankly that the difficulty of getting you here is scarcely consistent with the application that you put in to be the lead campaigner for leaving the EU.”
Revealing Elliott had been unable to attend the committee on three occasions, Tyrie asked: “Do you accept now that it was a mistake to muck parliament around as you did?”
After being asked if he regretted taking several requests to attend, Elliott eventually said: “I regret that it's dragged on.”
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Later in the committee, Mark Garnier MP accused Elliott of demonstrating an “extraordinary contempt of parliament” by not showing up.
Garnier asked: “Do you feel any more contrite than you did earlier?”
Elliott said: “I think I've already apologised for not being here before:”
Garnier appeared particularly upset that on one occasion Elliott had travelled to Switzerland for a trip that included meeting politicians there.
He said:
Where I think most of us struggled with this is that the Vote Leave campaign is going to an enormous amount of effort in order to try and demonstrate that we have the sovereignty of parliament and that parliament can take control of our laws. And yet you demonstrated an extraordinary contempt of parliament – with a small 'c' – by choosing to go and see some Swiss parliamentarians rather than come and see the parliamentarians here.
He added: “We've all had to rearrange our diaries – not once, not twice, but three times – to accommodate you.”
He suggested that the delay “sends a simply dismal and appalling message of the amount of contempt that you hold for the electorate of this country”.
Elliott responded: “I'd be extremely surprised if any of your constituents have heard about the diary trouble getting this date fixed up.”
Accusing Elliott of “swanning off to Switzerland”, Garnier added: “We're all pretty grumpy.”
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Vote Leave was also challenged in the committee meeting over various figures used by the campaign, including an estimate that EU regulation costs the UK £33bn a year, based on research by think-tank Open Europe.
Tyrie said: “The numbers that you're using look absurd to me and I regret that you're persisting with them.”
Vote Leave also used the committee to state that Canada could thrive outside of the EU and continue to have "full access" to the single market.
Elliott said: “I think that Canada would continue to thrive and prosper and be the number one financial centre outside of the EU.”