David Davis warned he could be in contempt of parliament after handing over edited Brexit studies

David Davis has been accused of treating Parliament with contempt after withholding information about the economic impact of Brexit from MPs.

The Brexit Secretary provided an 850-page dossier of information on the impact of leaving the European Union on 58 different sectors of the economy – but the papers do not contain sensitive information.

Mr Davis had been forced to release the information to the Brexit Select Committee following a House of Commons motion.

Select committee chairman Hilary Benn told Mr Davis the decision to remove information from the material supplied to MPs was “both contrary to the instruction given to the Government in that motion and to the clear expectations that I set out to you in our discussions”.

“The committee will therefore need to consider whether this is potentially a breach of privilege,” he warned.

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Mr Benn argued that the committee should have been given all the information requested and it was up to the cross-party group of MPs what – if anything – was subsequently published.

Mr Davis has been summoned to appear before the committee as a matter of urgency to explain his actions.

In the Commons, shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer sought answers from Mr Davis – but the Brexit department sent junior minister Robin Walker to respond instead.

Commons Speaker John Bercow said the urgent question was not the time to debate whether a contempt of the House had occurred, adding “there may or may not be later occasions for that matter to be discussed”.

Sir Keir said: “Whether he is in contempt of Parliament is a matter we will come to at a later date, but he is certainly treating Parliament with contempt.”

Downing Street backed the approach taken by Mr Davis.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We believe that we have complied with the terms of the motion. We have collated around 800 pages of documents which we believe meets the request.”

As Mr Walker responded in the Commons, there were cries of “Where is he?” from Labour MPs angry at Mr Davis’s absence.

Mr Walker said the “accessible and informative” information had been provided to the Commons Brexit committee, the Lords EU committee and the devolved administrations.

Arrangements were also being made to set up a reading room for all MPs to examine the documents.

Ministers have insisted that the information did not exist as 58 separate impact assessments as requested by Parliament, but was instead “a wide mix of qualitative and qualitative analysis” compiled since the referendum.

The Government has said the full information could not be disclosed because of its commercial sensitivity and potential to undermine the Brexit negotiations in Brussels.

Mr Walker added that all the information could not be passed to the committee because it “did not give any firm assurances that what was passed to them would not subsequently be published in full”.

Mr Benn said: “I made it very clear to the Secretary of State what procedure the select committee would use to consider the reports.

“I do object to any suggestion that the select committee or I as chair cannot be trusted to do our job.”

Sir Keir, a former director of public prosecutions, said he was “deeply concerned that the sum total of documents generated by the Government’s work on the impact of their approach to Brexit on the economy can be squeezed into two lever-arch files”.

“That’s the volume of paperwork I would have expected for a pretty routine Crown Court trial in my old world,” he said.

Prominent Tory Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg, a member of the Exiting the EU Select Committee, urged the Government to release all the information or seek a new vote in the House of Commons.

He said: “To meet this motion it is not at the discretion of the Government to decide what to take out. It is now at the discretion of the select committee.

“I therefore urge the Government either to meet the terms of the motion in full or to seek to put down a new motion.”