Select Committees and Brexit: Parliamentary Influence in a Divisive Policy Area

In this first comprehensive study of House of Commons departmental select committees and Brexit, we analyse the incidence of divisions (i.e. formal votes) on Brexit-related issues in select committees, showing that unanimity remains the norm with the exception of the Exiting the EU Committee, which is the most divided select committee of recent times. We add to the literature on select committee influence by adapting Russell and Benton’s (2011) methodology to examine government responses to committee recommendations on Brexit. We show that most have been partially accepted but that the level of policy change, rather than divisions on recommendations, is the main factor explaining variation, with greater success for recommendations suggesting a lower degree of change. Committees have also had indirect influence, shaping the agenda and bringing information into the public domain.