Whitehall ‘horror’ at Brexit

WHITEHALL mandarins hated Brexit so much they resisted forging a new UK trade deal with Australia, a top diplomat has revealed.

Australia’s outgoing high commissioner in London blasted ‘reluctance bordering on hostility’ to secure a postBrexit agreement.

George Brandis said some top civil servants were ‘in denial’ that Britain was leaving the EU and ‘horror at Brexit’ was their ‘default position’. He explained: ‘One of the very surprising things to me coming from Australia – where the protectionist argument was thwarted decades ago – was that the default position of Whitehall is protectionism. The default position in Whitehall was horror at Brexit.

‘It was kind of like a cringe or a crouch, recoiling and willing it not to happen – or being in denial that it was happening.’ In an interview with The Spectator, Mr Brandis praised former International Trade Secretary Liz Truss – now Foreign Secretary.

He said: ‘The political will was there to drive and cut through the bureaucratic and institutional inertia and reluctance. It was more than inertia, it was reluctance bordering on hostility in some departments…’ Australia and the UK finally signed a deal at the end of last year, which ministers say will unlock £10.4billion of additional trade. The agreement will eliminate all tariffs on exports and will mean that Britons will be able to work in Australia for three years.

It is the UK’s first ‘from scratch’ trade deal since leaving the EU. Other deals have been built upon previous agreements with the EU.