UNITED KINGDOM
The UK Institute for Government (IfG) says churn among senior Public Service officials means the country may not be ready to exit the European Union (Brexit) by the end of October.
Brexit Program Director at the IfG, Joe Owen said staff shifts across Government, including Philip Rycroft’s departure as the Permanent Secretary of the Department for Exiting the European Union, meant valuable expertise was being lost.
Some candidates for the Conservative Party leadership have said that if they are unable to reach a revised exit deal with the EU by the October deadline, they would leave without an agreement.
Among the other likely departures are Karen Wheeler (pictured) at HM Revenue and Customs, who has worked on ensuring there is no hard border on the island of Ireland, and Justin Russell, who was in charge of no-deal Brexit preparations at the Ministry of Justice.
Mr Owen said that as most senior managers in the Public Service changed jobs after two years, many of the 16,000 PS employees working on Brexit would be looking for a change of scenery.
“By October, with the Brexit deadline rapidly approaching, the officials in some of the key no-deal jobs could have been in post for little more than a few months,” Mr Owen said.
He said the rate of turnover also reflected the fact that many officials were worked into the ground in the run-up to the previous Brexit deadline of 29 March.
“Perhaps this is the price of public service, but the prospect of building up to another Brexit deadline is, understandably, not that appetising for some,” Mr Owen said.
London, 7 June 2019
