Member of British Cabinet Seat Westminster, London | Reports to The Prime Minister | |
 | ||
Style The Right Honourable
(Formal prefix)
Brexit Secretary Appointer The British Monarch
on advice of the Prime Minister Term length At Her Majesty's pleasure | ||
Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, or informally Brexit Secretary, is the Secretary of State responsible for the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union, informally referred to as "Brexit". The secretary will oversee withdrawal negotiations following a nationwide referendum on 23 June 2016, in which a majority voted in favour of exiting the EU. The office-holder is a member of the Cabinet.
The position was created at the outset of the premiership of Theresa May, who became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on 13 July 2016. May reportedly ordered civil servants to find a building to house a new Department for Exiting the European Union, to be headed by the Secretary of State. The headquarters of the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) at Whitehall Place, which is to be vacated once the DECC is merged into the newly created Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, was viewed as a potential site for the department. The department now occupies 9 Downing Street.
The inaugural holder is David Davis MP, a longtime Eurosceptic who campaigned for the UK to leave the EU. Davis is a former chairman of the Conservative Party who served in the government of John Major as Minister of State for Europe (1994–97) and in the Shadow Cabinet of David Cameron as Shadow Home Secretary.
Office-holders
Colour key (for political parties):
Conservative