THE Government has no joined-up strategy on what “Brexit means Brexit” actually means and the task of severing ties with the EU is going to cost the country a fortune in admin fees and fines.

Five months after the referendum and Whitehall is struggling to agree a common position on what has been labelled the single biggest task facing the civil service since the Second World War.

No.10 has rejected comments made in a memo leaked to the press describing cabinet divisions over Brexit. The document, compiled by consultancy firm Deloitte, said Whitehall is working on 500 Brexit-related projects and could need 30,000 extra staff.

So much for the claims made by Leave campaigners that quitting the EU would rid us of red tape and costly bureaucrats.

The government said it did not recognise the document and denied its conclusion that there was no clear plan. Whether the memo represents the government position or not, what is starting to emerge is the scale, complexity, in-fighting and mounting cost involved in unpicking 40 years of EU membership.

Brussels negotiators meanwhile are pushing for a draft deal by mid-2018 that would demand a bill of as much as £50 billion.

They could potentially reduce that and give Britain single market privileges by striking a transitional agreement where we’d continue to make full budget contributions even after leaving the union as a full member.

However that would be conditional on Theresa May accepting free movement, EU rules, and jurisdiction of EU courts i.e. a million miles away from the Brexit envisaged by the 52 per cent who voted Leave in June.

Mrs May’s assertion that “Brexit means Brexit” increasingly sounds like an aspiration rather than a strategic plan and we’re still a long way from knowing what Brexit really looks like.