Hundreds of civil service jobs for Brexit negotiators have not been filled days before talks formally begin about the UK’s departure from the European Union, the public spending watchdog has warned.

The Government has created jobs for over 1,000 civil servants to negotiate Brexit but only filled two thirds of them just days before talks formally start, the publc spending watchdog has found.

The report will cause alarm in Whitehall because Theresa May, the Prime Minister, will formally start the two year process of Britain leaving the EU on Wednesday next week.