The next round of Brexit negotiations between the UK and the EU is to take place in Brussels next week, David Davis has told a parliamentary committee.
The Brexit Secretary said he was seeking an “intensification” of negotiations, but told the House of Lords EU Committee that Britain was “on timetable” to achieve its desired outcome by the scheduled date of withdrawal from the EU in March 2019.
Announcement of the timing of the sixth round of formal negotiations came as it was revealed that as many as 5,000 extra staff are to be recruited by HM Revenue and Customs next year to deal with EU withdrawal.
David Davis leaves the cabinet meeting with Michael Fallon (Stefan Rousseau/PA)
Mr Davis told the Cabinet the move was part of an ongoing process which had already seen nearly 3,000 posts created across government to support Brexit efforts.
And he revealed that 300 lawyers have been recruited to the Government legal department in the past year.
Speaking to the Lords committee, Mr Davis said he had invited EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier to London for talks on Wednesday this week, but this was not possible because the Brussels official had a prior engagement.
The EU team was also unable to accept a UK proposal for talks early next week, he said. Negotiators will therefore meet on Wednesday and Thursday of next week before Mr Davis travels to Brussels on the Friday.
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Mr Davis told the committee that he was not surprised that leaders of the 27 remaining EU states had determined earlier this month that insufficient progress had been made in talks on the divorce deal for the second phase of negotiations, dealing with trade, to begin.
But he played down the significance of the decision, saying it provided time for the EU27 to prepare its position on the issues of trade and the transition to a new relationship in time for a European Council summit in December, when it is hoped they will give the green light to the second phase.
“We think that the outcome we got was one which keeps us on the timetable for an outcome in time for what we want,” Mr Davis told peers.
Some £662 million has already been committed for Brexit preparations over the course of this Parliament, with more than £250 million additional funding in 2017/18 and a further £412 million for the period up to 2022.
Cabinet heard the extra money would be spent on implementing changes at the border, preparing for future new trade agreements and converting existing EU law into domestic law on withdrawal.
Mr Davis told colleagues: “Alongside the negotiations in Brussels, it is crucial that we are putting our own domestic preparations in place so that we are ready at the point that we leave the EU.”
Prime Minister Theresa May told Cabinet colleagues that a new EU Exit and Trade sub-Committee was being created “to support the intensification of our domestic preparations”.
Chaired by First Secretary of State Damian Green, the committee will “focus on domestic preparedness, legislation, and devolution”.
The Cabinet Brexit discussions came amid reports the Bank of England has warned quitting could cost up to 75,000 financial services jobs.
Senior figures at the Bank said estimates over job losses were a “reasonable scenario”, particularly if the UK leaves without special arrangements for the sector, according to the BBC.
Following on from the announcement of extra HMRC staff, former top Foreign Office official Lord Ricketts said Britain will also need to hire more diplomats to influence EU decision-making after Brexit.
The peer, who also served as Britain’s ambassador to France, said there are “substantial” numbers of staff in Paris but that there is “overstretch” elsewhere.
He told the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee: “If you go to some of the smaller capitals, I mean there might be two UK diplomats and the capacity to engage across the whole spectrum is very much less, so I think it’s an absolute consequence of Brexit that we will need to reinforce, particularly in the smaller EU capitals, to make sure that we can influence governments upstream of discussions.”
Meanwhile, Mrs May’s de facto deputy Damian Green announced that the Cabinet sub-committee overseeing negotiations has had its remit widened to also include Brexit “strategy” and its membership extended.
Brexiteers Liam Fox and Michael Gove were added to the committee, which is chaired by the PM, as were Greg Clark and Sir Michael Fallon, who voted Remain.
Existing members – Mr Green, Philip Hammond, Amber Rudd, Boris Johnson and Mr Davis – continue to sit on the committee.
A 19-strong new sub-committee, including chief whip Gavin Williamson and Lords chief whip Lord Taylor of Holbeach, was also created to oversee domestic preparedness for Brexit.