Interesting article. I guess some will perceive the civil service as over-manned so they believe it will have capacity if not the experience to negotiate Brexit despite the austerity cuts
Civil Service not ready to negotiate Brexit, says former head Lord Kerslake
Britain's Civil Service is not in a fit state to negotiate Brexit, according to a former top mandarin.
Lord Kerslake, who ran the Civil Service from 2012 to 2014, said he was "seriously concerned" about the capacity of Britain's officials to negotiate Britain's departure, adding that the decision to leave the single market would only exacerbate the issue.
Talking to Sky News at the launch of his report into the Treasury, Lord Kerslake also warned that former chancellor George Osborne and the institution itself had undermined their reputation with their extreme economic warnings ahead of the referendum...
Oliver Ilott, Senior Researcher, Institute for Government echoed Lord Kerslake's concerns... "DEFRA, for example, has lost about 35% of its staff and yet 80% of its work relates to Brussels so it's got a huge amount of Brexit work to do, and at the same time it's got the same list of domestic policies that it needs to deliver that it was given back in 2015, and so for departments like DEFRA, there is pressure beginning to build."
http://news.sky.com/story/civil-serv...slake-10767023