UK’s Brexit negotiation team slashed to less than a quarter of size under Theresa May

Boris Johnson’s Brexit negotiating team has been slashed to less than a quarter of the size it was under Theresa May.

According to Whitehall insiders, there are now only 24 people working with his top official David Frost on renegotiating a Brexit deal.

That compares to more than 100 officials who worked under his predecessor Oliver Robbins during the height of the negotiations under the last government.

News of the negotiating team’s dramatic size reduction may spark further concern that the prime minister is not serious about achieving a refreshed Brexit deal and is instead focused on a no-deal Brexit.

It follows disputed reports that his chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, had described the renegotiation talks as a “sham”.

A number of sources close to the negotiations told Sky News that there was deep concern that the scale of the team would leave them ill-equipped to deal with a task as challenging as drafting an alternative to the Northern Irish backstop – the crucial sticking point in the negotiations.

The previous government had 45 people working on that part of the negotiations alone.

However, a government source said that the smaller team may allow it to achieve more.

“Clearly the team is smaller,” they said.

“But if you want to measure success, measure what it achieves over the next few weeks rather than its headcount.”

A spokesperson from Number 10 said: “David Frost will be accompanied to Brussels [on his trip tomorrow] by a small team of civil servants with relevant Brexit, trade and legal expertise.

“They will be supported by the UKREP team already based in Brussels.

“The team intend to run through a range of issues with Taskforce 50, including the backstop.”

Boris Johnson has repeatedly said he would attempt to negotiate a new deal, telling Sky News the chances of a Brexit deal were “improving” following talks with other EU leaders at the G7 summit in Biarritz.

He also repeated his stance that the current withdrawal agreement achieved by Mrs May was “dead”.

Last week, Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay told business leaders in Paris the government was “aiming for a deal” and said the UK’s shared economic future with the EU was “best served” by reaching an agreement.

But Mr Johnson’s key demand to remove the backstop to preserve an open Irish border has been disregarded by the EU.

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Michel Barnier said he was not optimistic about avoiding a no-deal scenario if Britain did not abandon its demands to remove the backstop.

“I am not optimistic about avoiding a no-deal scenario, but we should all continue to work with determination,” the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator said.

“The backstop is the maximum amount of flexibility that the EU can offer to a non-member state.”

The prime minister has said that he would take Britain out of the EU on 31 October – “no ifs or buts”.

(c) Sky News 2019: UK’s Brexit negotiation team slashed to less than a quarter of size under Theresa May