Government 'does not have enough experts in place for Brexit deal'

Theresa May is set to fire the starting gun for Brexit
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The Government was today accused of failing to get key Whitehall staff in place before Theresa May fires the starting gun for Britain to quit the EU.

The Brexit Department and the Department for International Trade (DIT) are both recruiting experts as the Prime Minister prepares to trigger Article 50 to start the two-year process of quitting the EU, possibly as soon as next week and certainly by the end of the month.

However, MPs are alarmed that the Government will not have built up the team of experts needed to ensure Britain strikes a good deal with Brussels.

Former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg said: “The Government is rushing towards the most complex negotiations this country has ever undertaken without first putting the right people in place in Whitehall.”

Ex-international trade minister Gareth Thomas added: “This is like a football team starting a match with only nine players and the other two still getting changed.”

Mr Clegg, a former Liberal Democrat leader, quizzed international trade minister Greg Hands in the Commons over the situation.

Mr Hands, MP for Chelsea and Fulham, said that his department had a strong core of trade policy officials which had quadrupled in size since June 24 last year — the day after the EU referendum — and was continuing to grow, with policy and country specialists as well as economic analysts and lawyers. He added: “To date, recruitment has primarily been from within the Civil Service.

“We are currently running an external campaign for recruiting high-quality individuals with a range of policy, negotiation and trade-specific skills and experience. This external campaign is ongoing.”

Some DIT trade negotiators and experts are expected initially also to carry out work for the Brexit ministry, officially known as the Department for Exiting the European Union, as the UK seeks to thrash out its new relationship with the EU before spring 2019.

Brexit minister Robin Walker said: “The Department for Exiting the European Union now has over 300 staff, and is growing fast.”

It also has 160 staff at the UK’s EU office in Brussels.

Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood, who is also head of the Civil Service, has said that he has “no doubt” that it is “well-equipped” to deliver Brexit.

However, the FDA union, which represents senior civil servants, has accused the Government of “failing to equip” public servants tasked with delivering a “brighter future” for the UK outside the EU.

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