Brexit ‘exposed civil service’s tensions’

PMs failed to defend officials, says study

POLITICS: Boris Johnson and his predecessor as Prime Minister Theresa May both failed to defend the civil service when MPs and the media questioned its impartiality over Brexit, according to a new study.

Divided Cabinets exposed fundamental tensions in the civil service’s role, an Institute for Government report said.

BORIS JOHNSON and his predecessor as Prime Minister Theresa May both failed to defend the civil service when MPs and the media questioned its impartiality over Brexit, according to a new study.

Divided Cabinets and clashes between Parliament and Downing Street exposed fundamental tensions in the civil service’s role, an Institute for Government report said.

The study claimed that Mrs May allowed her chief Europe adviser Sir Olly Robbins “to become a target for political attacks” over her Brexit policy.

And that Mr Johnson “placed officials in an immensely difficult position by implying that he would break the law to take the UK out of the EU without a deal on October 31, 2019”.

The process of delivering Brexit also revealed weaknesses in the civil service as senior officials failed to confront Ministers with the implications of not making key decisions, according to the study.

And that both Ministers and officials refused to be upfront about the “severe political and economic consequences” a no-deal outcome could have for Northern Ireland.

The report stated: “The civil service was unable to influence the pace of political decisionmaking on critical issues.

“The lack of a clear plan hampered

the huge job of practical preparations.

“As indecision and division grew under Theresa May, the civil service worked hard to offer new policies in the hope of keeping both sides of the Cabinet happy or to use ambiguous wording to defer conflict.

“But it was unable to broker compromise.”

The study said Whitehall was left to operate in a vacuum under Mrs May.

“As cabinet government broke down under Theresa May, the civil service was increasingly left to operate in a vacuum without clear political leadership.

“Those suspicious of the civil service’s role in the EU referendum campaign used this vacuum to deliver increasingly public attacks on individual civil servants, in particular May’s chief negotiator, Sir Oliver (Olly) Robbins. Both May and Johnson failed to offer any significant protection.”

The report was scathing about the Government’s stance on Northern Ireland.

It states: “In particular, the Johnson government – both Ministers and senior officials – claimed to be ready to leave the EU without a withdrawal agreement but failed to address, or admit, the economic and political implications for the people and businesses of Northern Ireland.”

However, the study found that the “immense scale of the Brexit task also drove innovations that should help the Government response to the coronavirus pandemic”.

But the study warned that if lessons are not learned problems will resurface during the Brexit transition period.

The Government was approached for comment but did not respond ahead of publication.

The civil service was increasingly left to operate in a vacuum.

Claim from a report by the Institute for Government.