Size of Brexit committee could hamper its ability to monitor EU exit, experts warn as Kate Hoey runs against Hilary Benn to chair Commons watchdog

Parliament risks tying itself in knots over Brexit as experts warn more than 30 different inquiries have been setup to monitor our EU exit.

The revelation comes as Labour Brexiteer Kate Hoey and Remainer Hilary Benn go head to head to chair the powerful new Exiting the EU Select Committee.

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The new chairman elected today will have the power to summon ministers and scrutinise Britain’s withdrawal.

All MPs will vote later on who will chair the committee, which will oversee the work of David Davis and his Brexit department.

Pro-Leave Labour MP Kate Hoey will face off former shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn today to decide who leads the Commons watchdog.

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But the Institute of Government warns that the new “committee risks becoming a large but toothless watchdog” as Westminster will be awash with “overlapping lines of inquiry, competition for media headlines, and “witness fatigue”.

They add that the new Exiting the EU Select Committee must not spark a “chaotic competition for the limelight, diverting huge amounts of ministerial and official time which might have been better spent elsewhere”.

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It will be just one of more than two dozen committees and working groups probing Brexit across parliament and Whitehall.

The new committee will be formed of a whopping 21 members from across the political divide, prompting concerns that it has been deliberately created too large to operate effectively.

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It will be made up of 10 Tories and MPs from six opposition parties, while the average committee has 11 members.

Last night Hannah White, who wrote the report, said: “The MPs who sit on these committees - and the new chairs being newly elected on Wednesday - face a huge task undertaking scrutiny of Brexit.

She added: “But they must rise to the challenge, because ultimately better scrutiny will mean better Brexit.”