Peers are under scrutiny
SUPPORT for House of Lords reform is predicted to increase if peers obstruct or delay Brexit, research claims.
An ICM survey for Change Britain, who campaign on the terms of Brexit, found 43 per cent of those polled are more likely to back abolition or reform compared to 12 per cent who would be less likely if they blocked legislation.
Almost a quarter of those questioned who voted Remain would be more likely to support reforms, while 19 per cent would be less likely.
Today peers will debate legislation which gives Theresa May the power to start the formal two-year process of negotiation on EU withdrawal.
They are expected to press ministers to guarantee rights of EU nationals living in the UK and to ensure Parliament can reject a deal and ask the Government to return to the negotiating table.
Former Tory minister Dominic Raab, a founder of Change Britain, said: “Voters will not look kindly on unelected politicians seeking to obstruct the result of the referendum and the vote of their elected representatives in the House of Commons earlier this month.” PANICKED civil servants are taking “masterclasses” in negotiating amid fears the UK will get a bad Brexit deal, the Record can reveal.
Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to trigger Article 50 and formally begin the process of the UK leaving the European Union next month.
But there is widespread worry in Whitehall that the British civil service are unprepared for the scale of the Brexit challenge.
UK ambassador to the EU Sir Ivan Rogers used his resignation letter last month to warn Brexit will be a “humongous” task and negotiating experience is in “short supply”.
And the Record has now learned the UK Government’s new Brexit department are holding training courses to teach civil servants to negotiate.
Staff are also being offered masterclasses on economic cost benefit analysis and “first aid mental health” training.
The Government admitted they had to hastily create fresh training schemes in light of the new “challenging context in which they operate”.
SNP MSP Linda Fabiani said the revelations, in response to a freedom of information request, would compound fears about the UK’s negotiating strength.
She said: “A civil service masterclass is hardly a match for the EU’s battalion of experienced trade negotiators – particularly when the Tories are determined to pursue a hard Brexit that would rip us out of the single market.
“We knew the Tories struggled with the detail on Brexit but now we see the alarming gaps in the UK’s negotiating ability – they’ll need to do more than send mandarins on courses to convince anyone they can deliver a deal that works.”
The Department for Exiting