The Brexit and worldwide trade ministries are still recruiting staff, making it unlikely Britain will invoke Article 50 — after which the country has two years to leave the bloc – until late next year, the Sunday Times said, citing people familiar with the situation.
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Prime Minister Theresa May’s government has indicated that it is planning to trigger Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty, which would start a two-year countdown to leaving the bloc, early in 2017.
Britain’s global trade minister, Liam Fox, said in July that early next year could be the best time for Britain to trigger the divorce talks.
She said she would not trigger the Brexit talks this year as Britain needs time to prepare.
City of London sources said: “They don’t have the infrastructure for the people they need to hire”.
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.
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.
But Article 50 could be invoked later than that, sources who had been privately warned by ministers told The Sunday Times.
‘The PM has set out the government’s position on article 50 and has established a new department dedicated to taking forward the negotiations’. The potential delay comes amid tensions between global trade secretary Liam Fox and Foreign Minister Boris Johnson over control of certain aspects of policy, according to the Sunday Telegraph. Mr Johnson had firmly rejected Mr Fox’s demands, the newspaper said.
The spokesman said that the government did not comment on leaked documents. Cameron said: “I will do everything I can as Prime Minister to steady the ship over the coming weeks and months”.
A delay would give Nicola Sturgeon more time to stage a second independence referendum before the United Kingdom formally leaves the EU.
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The delay could renew tensions within the Conservative Party, which was split in the lead-up to the vote, ending in David Cameron’s resignation as prime minister.
