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| Britain’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson |
Britain has no overall plan for Brexit and the strategy for leaving the European Union might not be agreed for six months due to divisions in Prime Minister Theresa Mayโs government, according to a leaked memo seen by the BBC and The Times.
The leaked document, prepared for the Cabinet Office by a consultant, said government departments were working on more than 500 Brexit-related projects and might require an additional 30,000 civil servants.
Mayโs office said it did not recognise the claims made in the memo.
โThis is not a government report and we donโt recognise the claims made in it,โ a spokesman for Mayโs office said. โWe are focused on getting on with the job of delivering Brexit and making a success of it.โ
Titled โBrexit Updateโ and dated Nov. 7, the memo criticises May for her tendency of โdrawing in decisions and details to settle the matter herself,โ the BBC and the Times reported on Tuesday.
It said there was no common Brexit strategy because of ministerial divisions with Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, Trade Minister Liam Fox and Brexit Minister David Davis on one side and finance minister Philip Hammond and Business Secretary Greg Clark on the other.
The document also says that โmajor playersโ in industry were likely to โpoint a gun at governmentโs headโ to secure assurances similar to that given to carmaker Nissan that it would not suffer from Brexit.
May has promised to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which kicks off two years of talks to leave the EU, by the end of March but she has so far given little away about her plans for Britainโs future relationship with the bloc.
