Another new department, the ministry for global trade under Liam Fox, also has an uphill task to recruit experts after decades of leaving the job to Brussels left Britain with only a handful of experienced negotiators.
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Britain might not invoke Article 50 until France has voted next May or until after the German poll in September.
Theresa May has been expected to enact article 50 in January, setting in train the formal two years of negotiations before Brexit.
“They don’t have the infrastructure for the people they need to hire”.
One source said that ministers believe the article 50 trigger could now take place in autumn 2017 – meaning it won’t be until 2019 when Britain finally leaves the EU. “The PM has set out the government’s position on Article 50 and has established a new department dedicated to taking forward the negotiations”, said a Downing Street spokesperson.
But Article 50 could be invoked later than that, sources who had been privately warned by ministers told the Sunday Times, with any delays a result of new government departments set up to handle Brexit and global trade not yet being fully staffed.
But behind the scenes, there has been a growing realization in Europe’s capitals that the two-year window for negotiating Brexit is far too short.
Earlier, Brexit (a term commonly used to denote Britain’s exit from EU) was expected by politicians early in 2019.
Davis has recruited less than half of the 250 staff he needs for the Brexit department, the Sunday Times said, while Fox has fewer than 100 of the 1,000 trade negotiators he is seeking.
However, their new government departments are being set up from scratch and the situation is reportedly “chaotic”.
This means that Britain may not start the formal two-year process to leave the European Union until France has voted in May or until the German election has concluded next September. It is also likely draw criticism from the pro-leave side of May’s Conservative party, with senior members such as John Redwood calling for a quick departure from the bloc.
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The 52 year old said issues surrounding curbing immigration and a failure to deliver Brexit could tempt first-time voters to join extremist groups such as the English Defence League, the newspaper reports.
