Tech border is not a solution, say hauliers

Truckers tell UK Brexit chief his plan is a non-starter

HAULIERS in the North have told UK Brexit Secretary David Davis that his vision of the so-called ‘max fac’ solution, which envisions using technology to avoid a hard border, is a non-starter.

After meeting with him in the North, the Freight Transport Association agreed the ‘north-south trading route will be difficult to administer’ but they still wanted no delays at the border.

Mr Davis told business people in the North during the brief visit on Sunday that the British government wants no border infrastructure ‘whatsoever.’

In a statement, the FTA said the meeting was ‘a welcome opportunity to raise the concerns of the logistics industry directly with those at the negotiating table in Brussels, particularly the need to avoid infrastructure Border issue: David Davis at the border, and the fact that technology at the border on vehicles will not be a workable solution’.

It added: ‘Clarity over the rules of origin for goods is vital, and despite the fact that compliance for the north-south trading route will be difficult to administer, I am confident that our message – that Ireland needs to remain open for business, with no delays at its borders – will be carried into the next round of talks with the EU.’

Gavin Killeen, managing director of Nuprint Technologies, was one of the business owners who met with the government delegation. He told the BBC that Mr David assured them that there would be no visible border, even if new technology was used to monitor trucks crossing the bor- der. ‘He was very clear at the start that they wish to have no hard border whatsoever, they wish there to be no infrastructure in place at all, there would be no effect on the movement of goods or people across that border.

‘They didn’t go into the detail of how that was going to be achieved, but that’s what they set out, where they want to be and that’s their objective of where they want to get to,’ he said.

Meanwhile, DUP leader Arlene Foster has said that the Irish Government’s ‘very aggressive’ Brexit stance has left unionists fearing they are attempting to reclaim the North.

She blamed Leo Varadkar for what she sees as a change in attitude from Dublin since Enda Kenny’s departure last year.

Addressing a conference on unionism in London yesterday, Ms Foster said: ‘Our worry as unionists has been... the very, very aggressive nature of the Irish government... And that leads a lot of unionists in Northern Ireland to think “is this just about the European Union, or is it about something else? Is it about trying to claim the fourth green field in terms of Northern Ireland?”’

Yesterday, a high-ranking Government source told the Mail that Ms Foster’s claims had ‘no basis whatsoever’.

‘That’s empty political rhetoric that doesn’t do any good,’ the source said.

‘They wish to have no hard border’