THOUSANDS of civil servants have been told by the UK Government to cease preparing for a no-deal Brexit – despite an estimated £1.5bn having already been spent on the preparations.

The decision was made by the Cabinet Office during a meeting on Thursday morning and follows the announcement that Brexit will be delayed until October 31.

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Of the 6000 civil servants working on no-deal preparations, approximately 4500 were newly recruited for the specifically for the project, with the remainder now returning to other departments. It is unclear what role the new recruits will now serve.

In total, more than 16,000 civil servants have been involved in Brexit planning.

A leaked letter, obtained by Sky News, read: “In common with the rest of government, we have stood down our no-deal operational planning with immediate effect. This morning, at a meeting chaired by the cabinet secretary, we agreed that the objective is to ensure we wind down our no-deal planning in a careful, considered and orderly way,” said a letter leaked to Sky News.”

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Politicians and senior civil servants from the Home Office and departments of health, transport, environment are now in discussions on what to do with the newly recruited civil servants brought in to assist with Brexit planning.

The National Audit Office revealed in March that £1.5bn had been allocated across Whitehall for no-deal contingencies under an umbrella Operation Yellowhammer project.