If you still have faith in this government's competency, I suggest you read this (in the interests of balance, I should warn Leavers that this is from today's FT...so you may suspect it comes with an agenda. However, I think many (whether Leavers or Remainers) are beginning to recognise that things are completely dysfunctional at the moment. It surely can't last....).
A turf war is under way between the different ministries competing to shape Brexit, with the process more Balkanised and uncoordinated since June’s election, according to senior civil servants. Two weeks after the UK began formal negotiations to leave the EU, the cabinet is deeply divided over what Britain’s goals should be. Meanwhile, the departure of the prime minister Theresa May’s chiefs of staff, Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill, has left a power vacuum in Downing Street. “Nick and Fi exercised a stranglehold over Brexit policy which constricted discussion and meant many Brexit issues were never properly discussed between departments,” said one leading civil servant. “Now that they have gone, it’s a relief. But the way in which they hounded ministers and officials meant many issues were never properly thought through in a collaborative way.”
Another official said: “We have got to a stage where a lot of key questions on Brexit still need to be properly thrashed out in conversations. For example, we have not had a detailed discussion across departments about what the impact of leaving the single market will be for specific sectors of the UK economy. This has to change.” As the battle across Whitehall begins, the Department for International Trade, led by Liam Fox, announced last week it will begin talks on a US-UK trade deal in Washington on July 24, as it tries to underscore its importance. But Philip Hammond, the chancellor, and business secretary Greg Clark are pushing for a transition deal that maintains current trading relations with the EU, even if that means Mr Fox will be unable to strike trade deals in the meantime.
Treasury officials have written an unpublished paper which challenges the DIT to prove it can line up free trade agreements with non-EU countries that can outweigh the loss of European trade associated with leaving the customs union. Mr Hammond is likely to use the findings of that paper later this year to press home his case for staying close to the customs union. Some are critical of the role played by the Department for Exiting the EU (Dexeu). “Dexeu is supposed to be a secretariat drawing together a common Whitehall position on Brexit,” said one official. “But the central problem we face is that Dexeu is also a department whose lead minister [Davis] has a strong view of what Brexit should look like. It is both a player and a referee and it can’t be both.
”Some senior figures remain particularly critical of what they say is the secretive role played by Olly Robbins, the permanent secretary at Dexeu who is also the prime minister’s chief Sherpa at the Brexit negotiations. “Olly keeps too much of our negotiating position in his head and that isn’t helpful,” said one official. Another agreed, adding: “That has certainly been the problem for much of the last year. Excessive secrecy is one of the reasons why the [EU] Commission is now far better organised at every level than we are.” Even inside Dexeu, there is unease about how Mr Robbins manages his dual role, reporting to Mr Davis and to Mrs May. “It can get very confused,” says one departmental figure. “Sometimes Olly has sent papers up to Number 10 which David Davis doesn’t get to see. Sometimes Nick Timothy would get sent papers from Olly that nobody else did.” One official noted that Lord Bridges, a former Dexeu minister who resigned earlier this month, was kept out of the loop. “He was not allowed to see cabinet papers on Brexit, even though he was defending policy in the Lords.”
A turf war is under way between the different ministries competing to shape Brexit, with the process more Balkanised and uncoordinated since June’s election, according to senior civil servants. Two weeks after the UK began formal negotiations to leave the EU, the cabinet is deeply divided over what Britain’s goals should be. Meanwhile, the departure of the prime minister Theresa May’s chiefs of staff, Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill, has left a power vacuum in Downing Street. “Nick and Fi exercised a stranglehold over Brexit policy which constricted discussion and meant many Brexit issues were never properly discussed between departments,” said one leading civil servant. “Now that they have gone, it’s a relief. But the way in which they hounded ministers and officials meant many issues were never properly thought through in a collaborative way.”
Another official said: “We have got to a stage where a lot of key questions on Brexit still need to be properly thrashed out in conversations. For example, we have not had a detailed discussion across departments about what the impact of leaving the single market will be for specific sectors of the UK economy. This has to change.” As the battle across Whitehall begins, the Department for International Trade, led by Liam Fox, announced last week it will begin talks on a US-UK trade deal in Washington on July 24, as it tries to underscore its importance. But Philip Hammond, the chancellor, and business secretary Greg Clark are pushing for a transition deal that maintains current trading relations with the EU, even if that means Mr Fox will be unable to strike trade deals in the meantime.
Treasury officials have written an unpublished paper which challenges the DIT to prove it can line up free trade agreements with non-EU countries that can outweigh the loss of European trade associated with leaving the customs union. Mr Hammond is likely to use the findings of that paper later this year to press home his case for staying close to the customs union. Some are critical of the role played by the Department for Exiting the EU (Dexeu). “Dexeu is supposed to be a secretariat drawing together a common Whitehall position on Brexit,” said one official. “But the central problem we face is that Dexeu is also a department whose lead minister [Davis] has a strong view of what Brexit should look like. It is both a player and a referee and it can’t be both.
”Some senior figures remain particularly critical of what they say is the secretive role played by Olly Robbins, the permanent secretary at Dexeu who is also the prime minister’s chief Sherpa at the Brexit negotiations. “Olly keeps too much of our negotiating position in his head and that isn’t helpful,” said one official. Another agreed, adding: “That has certainly been the problem for much of the last year. Excessive secrecy is one of the reasons why the [EU] Commission is now far better organised at every level than we are.” Even inside Dexeu, there is unease about how Mr Robbins manages his dual role, reporting to Mr Davis and to Mrs May. “It can get very confused,” says one departmental figure. “Sometimes Olly has sent papers up to Number 10 which David Davis doesn’t get to see. Sometimes Nick Timothy would get sent papers from Olly that nobody else did.” One official noted that Lord Bridges, a former Dexeu minister who resigned earlier this month, was kept out of the loop. “He was not allowed to see cabinet papers on Brexit, even though he was defending policy in the Lords.”
