EU plans post-Brexit London ’embassy’

The European Union plans to have a 29-strong team of diplomats in London to represent it after Brexit.

It will be called a “delegation” – not an embassy – and will be part of the EU’s foreign policy arm, the European External Action Service (EEAS).

There will also be a mission with five staff in Belfast to oversee the implementation of the withdrawal agreement in Northern Ireland – if there is a Brexit deal.

The plans will be discussed next week.

They will be presented for approval by ambassadors from the 27 remaining EU countries on Wednesday.

The European Commission has offices in all member states. Currently it has a team of 27 staff based at Europe House, in Smith Square, Westminster.

Once the UK leaves the EU in March next year, that office will be replaced by a new London outpost for the EEAS.

It will be about a third of the size of its equivalent in Washington DC, which has 90 personnel – although only 30 of them are classed as European diplomats.