Prospect union says clarity is urgently needed in areas such as regulation and licensing

Just one in 20 specialist civil servants is satisfied with the government’s approach to Brexit, a significant drop in approval from nearly one in five last year, according to a union survey.

Four out of five of Whitehall’s scientists, engineers, analysts and mathematicians told the Prospect union they were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the government’s ability to negotiate with the EU.



As well as a lack of progress in negotiations with the EU, union executives blamed the dramatic drop in satisfaction on ministers such as Michael Gove for undermining the role of government specialists. The environment secretary notoriously claimed before the EU referendum that “people have had enough of experts”.



Mike Clancy, the general secretary of Prospect, which has members in departments including environment, defence and transport, said the findings showed Whitehall’s experts were losing confidence in the government’s ability to find a way through the negotiations.



Calm down. Barnier's words were not a green light for Brexit deal Read more

The union conducted an online survey of 1,073 members, made up of scientists, engineers and experts in their field working across the civil service, over several weeks.

Members were invited to say whether they were satisfied with the government’s approach to Brexit. Just 4.85% of them said they were either satisfied or very satisfied, compared with 78% who said they were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied.

Asked if they were satisfied a good deal could be negotiated, just over 7% were satisfied or very satisfied, compared with just under 80% who were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied.



According to a survey of the union’s members conducted in March 2017, 18.71% were satisfied with the government’s approach to EU negotiations.



Clancy said the government had lost the trust of specialists working in the public sector, which should be partly blamed on Gove’s comments on experts.



“We are only just seeing the consequences of that remark now. I think any politician who is so confident that they can say to the public that they don’t have to rely on experts has an extraordinary ego, which is likely to catch up with them at some stage. It is corrosive and dangerous,” he said.



“Our members are measured and moderate, evidence-based people. They need clarity on migration, on regulation, on licensing and how that is delivered through the machinery of government,” he said.



Asked whether members responded well to last week’s release of technical notices addressing how the government was preparing for a no-deal scenario, Clancy said the timing of the release was questionable.



“When you put out documents when most people are on holiday, there is an intention that is more political rather than practical and it is part of a process of setting the mood for what is going to happen in the autumn,” he said.



“I would be surprised if those technical notices will of themselves have given our members a spurt of confidence, which has so far been absent.”

