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BRITAIN VOTES LEAVE: WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
CIVIL SERVICE CAPACITY A final consideration is the capacity of our civil service. We would need to look at resourcing because some departments that deal a lot with the EU, like Defra, will both have increased work to do relating to the negotiation and will also have to build the capacity to take legislative control of whole policy areas for the future. I actually think this will be easier to achieve than some fear. During my two and a half years in Government, my opinion of our civil service has gone up.
I have exceptionally talented people coming through my office but I often feel that they are constrained by the system and the EU framework they have to work within. We would take an early decision not to waste time and effort on working groups for EU dossiers that were some way in the future. Instead, we would exercise our influence on trade and technical issues bilaterally with