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Courtesy of the Times.
Up to 4,000 civil servants are being asked to abandon their day jobs to work on no-deal Brexit preparations under plans being rolled out across Whitehall. Officials in education, justice and welfare are among staff in five government departments being asked to take up new roles within weeks, The Times has learnt. None will be replaced and the secondments are expected to last at least six months. Whitehall sources said ministers were being told to reduce demands on their departments.
Jonathan Slater, permanent secretary at the education department, told staff yesterday that the priority was ensuring that “key services continue to operate” but other areas of the department’s work are likely to be mothballed.
“Please, if you feel able, put yourselves forward to help the civil service with the vital work that needs to be done now to minimise the consequences of a no-deal exit,” he said, adding that he was “in discussion” with Damian Hinds, the education secretary, about “what this could mean for our work”.
Three cabinet ministers warned yesterday against no deal. Michael Gove, the environment secretary, said in the Commons that if MPs rejected Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement it would be “undeniably the case that there will be economic turbulence and damage that our citizens and constituents face”. Greg Clark, the business secretary, refused to say whether he would stay in government if Mrs May pursued a no-deal policy. David Lidington, her deputy, said he opposed leaving the EU without an agreement.
Boris Johnson, the former foreign secretary, used a speech in Dublin to say that “Project Fear” was being used to “keep the UK in the customs union, in the single market and therefore really to make a nonsense of leaving the EU”. He joked about the risk that the UK could run out of drinking water and “two crucial ingredients for Mars bars — sucrose and whey, apparently”. “It’s not the job of politicians to go around moaning of potential shortages of Mars bars,” he said. “It’s our job to meet those challenges and to mobilise people and to lead. It’s not the job of the British government to continually tell the people they can’t do something. It’s our job to tell them they can do it.”
The Times understands that in total 4,000 no-deal Brexit roles in Whitehall have been identified as necessary to cope if Britain leaves without an agreement in March. Some involve diverting staff within departments and others mean boosting numbers in other parts of Whitehall, such as Revenue & Customs and the agriculture department, that will be under most pressure. Some will be filled by consultants and external recruitment is taking place, but the vast majority of the roles are expected to be filled internally. Five departments in particular — defence, justice, education, international development and work and pensions — have been found to have spare capacity.