If a leaked memo from the highest levels of the British government is to be believed, the government of Prime Minister Theresa May faces internal chaos implementing the so-called Brexit, whereby the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union in a referendum last June 23. According to the memo, government departments are pitted against one another in trying to figure out exactly what Brexit means and how to implement it, with Whitehall’s civil servants overwhelmed by the logistical and legal complications and complexities of extrication from the 28-member bloc after a 42-year relationship. The memo says that there are more than 500 separate projects that need to be evaluated and one potential side-effect of the Brexit decision would be the hiring of some 30,000 more civil servants to cope with the sheer administrative volume generated by the process of unravelling British law from that of its European framework.

But is that memo to be believed? Senior British ministers have discounted it and have said that the government is working on a plan that would see it trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty by the end of March. That article remains the only means for a member of the European Union to leave and kick-starts a two-year negotiation process with the other 27 members on the terms of separation. Even the act of how to trigger Article 50 remains a thorny political and legal subject for the May government. A High Court decision earlier this month determined that members of parliament are entitled to a vote on the Article 50 process, not just the Cabinet alone. The legal reasoning was based on the fact that the UK had joined the EU as a result of an act passed in parliament and it therefore requires a vote by the MPs to reverse that. May’s government is appealing that decision to the Supreme Court. The legal wrangling, however, points to the confusing and disparate opinions that must be resolved and certainly give some credence to the sentiments expressed in that leaked memo.

Putting the memo aside, there seems to be a lack of unity between the three ministers responsible for executing Brexit — David Davis, Liam Fox and Boris Johnson — and other senior members of May’s government. May’s hope that somehow Britain would be able to develop new trade relationships has been given a boost with the election of protectionist Donald Trump as president in the United States. But a new Washington-London trade nexus will not find many friends globally who are eager to tear down impediments to the free movement of goods and services. World trade won’t turn on such a small axis.