Preparations for leaving the European Union have already cost British taxpayers more than £ 4.4 billion. The British National Audit Office (NAO) reports this today.
According to the British Court of Audit, that amount has been spent since the Brexit referendum in 2016. It involves 1.9 billion pounds in personnel costs, 1.5 billion for the installation of new systems and infrastructure and 288 million for external consultants.
At the height of the preparations in October last year, no fewer than 22,000 people worked on the approaching Brexit.
The NAO also states that this is only a ‘minimum estimate’ because the ministries only release a limited number of data.
Meg Hillier, the member of the Labor opposition party and chairman of the parliamentary committee for public finances, believes that the government has “kept the population in the dark” about the costs.
She thinks there is not enough data and that there is a lack of transparency.