Karen Wheeler, quits job as UK's Brexit border preparation official

The British official who was in charge of Brexit border preparations, Karen Wheeler, has left her job, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs said on Thursday. "I would like to thank Karen for her outstanding work leading the Border Deliver Group to prepare the UK for EU Exit and we wish her well for her retirement," Jonathan Thompson, HMRC Chief Executive, said in a statement to Reuters.

"We shall be announcing her successor in due course," he said. Wheeler did not respond to a request for comment. Wheeler said earlier this year that there was no magic technological solution for preventing a hard border in Ireland after Brexit.

She said the United Kingdom would need a customs union with the EU, plus something that looks like a single market, to have completely free movement of goods across the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.