THINGS are certainly moving on the Brexit front.

Not, lamentably, in terms of any kind of coherent plan from the UK Government. Rather, things are moving apace in the corporate sector as companies make and implement their plans for dealing with issues thrown up by the Brexit vote.

Prime Minister Theresa May plans to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty to start the formal two-year European Union exit negotiation process on March 29. This keeps her just within her self-imposed deadline of the end of March, set last October.

She told her Cabinet on Tuesday that triggering Article 50 would be a “historic event” and the start of a “bold new chapter as a prosperous, open and global nation”. It is easier to agree with the first than the second of these claims.

Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, said EU leaders would adopt guidelines for the Brexit process at a summit on April 29.

It promises to be a long, slow and difficult process for the UK as it negotiates exit terms with our long-suffering EU neighbours. However, what has become even more evident this week is that UK companies are not going to be hanging around for the next couple of years to see what happens.

Responding to a survey by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, eight per cent of CAs in large businesses with 250 or more employees said their organisations were already transferring some activities from the UK to continuing EU member states because of Brexit. So the movement of activities is already well under way.

And it looks as if there is much more to come. Another 21 per cent of CAs revealed their organisations were considering moving at least some activities to other EU countries.

In short, nearly three in 10 large businesses in the UK are considering shifting activities to continuing EU member states because of Brexit, or are doing so already.

It was also interesting to hear this week that investment bank Goldman Sachs will be moving hundreds of staff out of London before any Brexit deal is struck.

Goldman Sachs International chief executive Richard Gnodde, who heads the investment bank’s operations in Europe, said: “We are going to start to execute on those contingency plans. For this first period...this is in the hundreds of people as opposed to anything greater than that.”

Some people will be asked to move from London, and Goldman will also be hiring staff in continuing EU member states, Mr Gnodde told US broadcaster CNBC. He did not specify the locations in which operations would be built up, but noted Goldman had banking licences in France and Germany.

He made another key point that will hopefully in coming months focus the minds of Mrs May and her Cabinet on whether their seemingly preferred “hard Brexit” approach is actually a good idea.

Mr Gnodde said: “What our eventual footprint will look like depends on the outcome of negotiations, and what we’re obliged to do because of them.”

Separately, European Commission vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis made it plain on Tuesday that the EU’s executive arm wants a decision on the relocation of the European Banking Authority from London before the end of the Brexit negotiations. The EBA employs about 160 people in London, who write and coordinate banking regulations across the bloc.

It was meanwhile reported last month that up to 20 EU countries are seeking to take the headquarters of the European Medicines Agency from the UK as a result of Brexit. The agency employs about 900 people. And the prestige of hosting the agency is viewed, understandably, as something that provides a major boost to a country’s pharmaceuticals and medical sectors.

Of course, the huge uncertainty created by the Brexit vote and the UK Government’s shambolic reaction to it is not just affecting big companies and key EU agencies.

Small businesses are making it clear just how important continued easy access to EU markets is to them.

A survey published this week by the Federation of Small Businesses shows 63 per cent of its UK members regard the EU as a priority market. This is significantly greater than the 49 per cent citing the US as a key trade destination. Meanwhile, Australia, China, and Canada were flagged as key trade destinations by a respective 29 per cent, 28 per cent and 23 per cent of small businesses.

The FSB survey also found 27 per cent of small firms that currently export would be deterred from trading with the EU should any tariff - no matter how small - be introduced. And it underlines the point that non-tariff barriers – such as requirements relating to packaging or transportation – can also pose problems for smaller firms.

Meanwhile, a survey this week from actuarial company Mercer highlights the huge extent to which key sectors of the UK economy are reliant on overseas workers, from other EU countries and elsewhere. It shows non-UK-born employees account for 33 per cent, 23 per cent and 20 per cent respectively of the workforces of the accommodation and food services, manufacturing, and transport industries.

And Mercer warns: “Companies in those sectors, and those reliant on them, are especially at risk from the changes in the UK’s migration policy.”

There is another important point to be made in this regard. Many of the people from other EU member states who play such an important part in the prosperity of the Scottish and broader UK economy may well decide they do not fancy two years of watching possibly haphazard negotiations. They may well choose to take their skills to continuing EU member states sooner rather than later.

The Brexit warning signals are coming thick and fast.

The big question is whether Mrs May and her ministers are listening. Or are they simply too enraptured by their journey on the ideologically-driven Brexit bandwagon as it heads towards the cliff-edge?