UK | Report: Government said to have no plan for Brexit

Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May

London’s Times newspaper says a leaked memo prepared for Britain’s Cabinet Office says the government has no plan for leaving the European Union and may need to hire up to 30,000 people to complete the country’s exit from the 28-nation bloc.

The newspaper reported yesterday that the memo says splits within Prime Minister Theresa May’s team have delayed development of a negotiating strategy and that it may take another six months to come up with a plan.

The government plans to trigger the formal process of leaving the EU by April.

The Nov. 7 memo written by a consultant says that “despite extended debate among [department] permanent secretaries, no common strategy has emerged.”

It says this is partly because May is “drawing in decisions and details to settle matters herself.”

Britain’s vote to leave the European Union and the election of Donald Trump have transformed the world in a year, Theresa May said, in a speech arguing that governments must heed people’s concerns about the impact of globalization on jobs and communities, the Associated Press reported.

In a major foreign policy speech at the annual Lord Mayor’s Banquet in London, May said “change is in the air” and “it’s the job of politicians to respond.”

She said Britain would champion free trade while managing “the forces of globalization so that they work for all.”

The speech, to an audience of business leaders in London’s financial district, comes as the British government tries to build bridges with a U.S. president-elect whose victory has surprised — and even alarmed — many European politicians.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said that it’s “very important not to prejudge the president-elect or his administration.” And May’s spokeswoman, Helen Bower, said Downing Street wants “an effective, strong working relationship” with the incoming U.S. president.

May and Trump spoke by phone on Thursday, the day after Trump’s victory was announced. But the call has been overshadowed in Britain by Trump’s meeting Saturday with U.K. Independence Party leader Nigel Farage, a key player in the U.K.’s decision to leave the European Union.

UKIP issued a gleeful press release accompanied by a picture of the two men, beaming side-by-side in front of a golden elevator at Trump Tower in New York.

May firmly rejected suggestions that she should use Farage — a political foe of her Conservative party — as a go-between with Trump’s team.

Theresa May, who took office when David Cameron resigned after losing the June referendum on EU membership, has stressed the need to help those who feel left behind by the economic and social changes of recent decades.

Years of recession and economic uncertainty since the 2008 global financial crisis have helped fuel resentments that drove the votes for Trump and Brexit.

May told a black-tie dinner at London’s medieval Guildhall: “We meet in a world transformed.”

She denied having an “anti-business agenda,” saying liberalization and globalization are forces for good, and “free markets and tree trade” are the best way to lift people out of poverty. But she added that governments must help people who have seen “their jobs being outsourced and wages undercut.” MDT/Agencies