Government has spent £4.4bn on Brexit preparations
The UK government has spent at least £4.4bn of taxpayers’ money on preparations to leave the EU, the public spending watchdog said today.
The National Audit Office (NAO) said most of the money was spent on staff costs, building new infrastructure and paying for external advice.
The government overall only spent about 70 per cent of the £6.3bn allocated to cover the cost of preparations, the report said.
The report said at least 22,000 government officials were working on Brexit when the UK was on the brink of leaving the EU without a deal last October.
“This report provides, for the first time, a clear picture of how much government has spent and what that money has been spent on,” said NAO head Gareth Davies.
The UK left the EU at the end of January and is currently in a transition period until the end of 2020 while it negotiates an exit package with the EU.
The government has had to boost training for customs officials, improve infrastructure around ports and hire staff to negotiate trade deals.
More than half of the money was spent by three departments: the Home Office, HM Revenue and Customs and Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
The NAO said their estimate only focused on the cost of government preparations and excluded future costs such as the £39bn divorce bill agreed with the EU.
Overall, £1.9bn was spent on paying government employees, £1.5bn went on new infrastructure and £288m.