Brexit preparations cost taxpayer more than £4bn, spending watchdog says

Boris Johnson led the UK out of the EU in January
PA
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Brexit cost the taxpayer more than £4 billion in additional government costs, the Whitehall spending watchdog has found.

The National Audit Office (NAO) said that between the EU referendum in June 2016 and March 31 this year, government departments will have spent at least £4.4 billion,

A total of £6.3 billion was allocated by the Treasury to prepare for Britain’s departure from the bloc at the end of January, the official figures showed.

The preparation included planning for both "deal" and "no deal" scenarios.

Some £2 billion was specifically earmarked for "no deal" preparations in 2019-20 - although this was scaled back after the prospects of "no deal" receded.

Overall, the NAO said the figures represented a "minimum estimated level of spend" due to "limitations" in the data provided by departments.

Of the money spent, £1.9 billion went on staffing costs, £1.5 billion on building new systems and infrastructure, and £288 million on bringing in expertise and external advice.

At the peak of activity, in October 2019, there were 22,000 staff working on Brexit preparations, including 1,500 who had been moved within government to prepare for a possible "no deal" exit.

The head of the NAO, Gareth Davies, said: "In preparing for EU exit, government departments planned for multiple potential outcomes, with shifting timetables and uncertainty.

"Producing this report has highlighted limitations in how government monitored spending on EU exit specifically, and cross-government programmes more generally."

The chairman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, Meg Hillier, said: "The public has been kept in the dark as to what the Government has been doing.

"Data is limited, and the Treasury seem unconcerned by the lack of transparency."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT