UK has no trade negotiators for Brexit talks with EU, says Letwin

A former minister has said the UK has no trade negotiators to take part in Brexit talks with the European Union.

Oliver Letwin, who was sacked on Thursday from the cabinet by Theresa May as the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, was part of David Cameron’s supposed ‘Brexit unit’ in government.

Letwin told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme on Friday: "We do not have trade negotiators...Trade negotiators who are Brits at the moment are basically working for the EU."

The EU has led trade talks on behalf of the UK since 1973 and is why there is a skills shortage of negotiators in the country.

He added that he did not know how long talks with the EU would take.

"We will only know as we go along just how tricky this will be and how long that takes."

Letwin added his sacking and May’s reshuffling of her cabinet was not a purge of her predecessors supporters.

"It was clear that Theresa was forming a different kind of cabinet, and I was not to be part of it. When you change the guard, you change the guard. It's a natural process."

Previously, the then foreign secretary now Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond said the UK would have to recruit negotiators from abroad.

On 7 July Hammond told a committee of MPs: “The government will have to acquire additional trade negotiation resources. We will look to friendly governments to assist us, as well as seeking to hire the best resources available on the open market".

Talks with the EU will largely be led by ‘Brexit minister’ David Davis, secretary for international trade Liam Fox and foreign secretary Boris Johnson.