Strained: In 2016, UK PM Theresa May – seen here with German permier Angela Merkel – made a speech committing herself to a hard Brexit; she spent much of her stint as PM trying to soften it again. Credit: Jay Allen/Crown Copyright
Newly published interviews with key figures involved in Brexit reveal how a lack of expertise led to major mistakes – and suggest that the UK government deliberately built an inexperienced team to handle this crucial issue. Catherine Early reports
In October 2016, three months after the Brexit referendum, UK prime minister Theresa May made a speech to the Conservative Party conference at which she set out her ‘red lines’ around the UK’s future relationship with the EU. These effectively ruled out membership of the Single Market or Customs Union – and appeared to signal a sharp hardening of her plans: Number 10 had spent months claiming that the UK could secure its goals without leaving the Single Market.