The government department responsible for Britain’s smooth departure from the customs union after Brexit is employing 2,000 fewer staff than on the day of the EU referendum. The fall in HM Revenue & Customs’ staff headcount, revealed in the Commons by a Treasury minister last week, will intensify concerns on the Conservative back benches about Britain’s preparations to implement a new customs regime after the post-Brexit transition period elapses at the end of 2020. In June 2016, when the UK voted to leave the EU, HMRC’s total headcount was 67,450. By March 2017, when Theresa May triggered Article 50 and began the formal Brexit negotiating process, it had increased to 69,789. The tally had fallen last month to 65,287. In October last year, the prime
The UK's HMRC tax authority has 2,000 fewer employees than it did at the Brexit referendum in 2016, according to a Treasury minister. That, despite the department’s importance in implementing post-Brexit customs arrangements and after Prime Minister Theresa May said last year that HMRC would hire as many as 5,000 more people. In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Mr Hammond said: “We are going to have to do some things differently.