Re: Inadaquacy and disagreement
I had a meeting with two HMRC VAT chaps on Tuesday and they weren't even sure if they would still have a job in case of No Deal (in two months!) as most of their work depends on intra-EU trading VAT processes.
As for the contracting point. A friend of mine researched the effect of Brexit on staffing issues for one of her clients and created a table of least affected and most affected based on citizenship status. Quite useful for HR to know so they can adjust hiring practices etc.
* The lucky bastards were people with Irish Citizenship as they get to keep Freedom of Movement and the Common Travel Area.
* One level below them were non-British EU Citizens living in the UK as they get to keep their Freedom of Movement and their right to reside in the UK so can easily cross borders for work in any of the 28 countries (up to five year long stints).
* Below those were people with only UK Citizenship living in the UK. They are about to lose their EU Citizenship and therefore lose their Freedom of Movement. They can keep working in the UK but lose the right to work in the other 27 countries.
* At the bottom of the table were the poor bastards who live in other EU countries, are going to lose their EU Citizenship in two months and only have UK CItizenship to fall back on. In many cases they can stay were they are or move back to the UK, other routes are closed.
So yes, if you live in the UK and will still have your EU CItizenship after Brexit then you have quite a sweet deal when contracting is concerned.