Leaked documents have revealed that the government has no plan for Brexit, and that it may need to employ 30,000 extra staff in order to deal with related projects.
The Times today unveiled a leaked memo that suggests it will take another six months before the government decides precisely what it wants to achieve from Brexit or agrees on its priorities.
It also identifies cabinet splits between those at the heart of the negotiations, namely between Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, Brexit Secretary David Davis and International Trade Secretary Liam Fox on one side, and Chancellor Philip Hammond and Business Secretary Greg Clark on the other.
It says: “Every department has developed a ‘bottom-up’ plan of what the impact of Brexit could be – and its plan to cope with the ‘worst case’.
“Although necessary, this falls considerably short of having a ‘government plan for Brexit’ because it has no prioritisation and no link to the overall negotiation strategy.”
The memo goes on to say that the government doesn’t have the capacity to deal with Brexit quickly, with departments developing individual plans resulting in “well over 500 projects”.
It estimates an additional 30,000 extra civil servants could be required to meet the workload.The document also says big businesses could soon “point a gun at the government’s head” to secure what they need to maintain jobs and investment.