Davis decries hard border as May wins day by three votes
THE UK’s former Eurosceptic Brexit minister David Davis has said that a hard border with Ireland is impossible because of the hundreds of border crossings and said a solution could have been found had the issues not become so ‘politicised’.
Mr Davis resigned from the British government last week, along with foreign minister Boris Johnson, in protest at prime minister Theresa May’s softly-softly approach to Europe.
The stormy scenes emerged after the UK government said it would accept four amendments to a Brexit Bill that gives concessions to Eurosceptic Conservative backbenchers and makes alignment with EU regulations more difficult.
Mrs May narrowly avoided defeat when MPs voted by 305 to 302 to support the amended Bill.
During a stormy House of Commons debate last night, Mr Davis delivered a fraught resignation speech in which he acknowledged that the Northern border was by the far the most difficult Brexit issue.
‘There’s no way, however, that a UK government is ever going to install a hard border in Northern Ireland,’ he said, in response to claims that his tough stance on Europe would lead to a breakdown in trade with Ireland.
Surrounded by Brexiteers, Mr Davis conceded that border was a difficult issue because of the crossings but insisted most of the UK’s trade comes through Britain’s six major ports.
‘There may be 300 border crossings, but there are only six ports,’ he added. ‘So the rest of world imports can be surveilled and controlled very straight-forwardly.
‘So the issue, which has got much more difficult since becoming politicised was actually working quite well in negotiations before it became politicised, is eminently soluble, soluble by technical means, soluble by co-operation between the two states [UK and EU].’
Mr Davis again claimed that technology could monitor trade between the UK and the EU without the need for a customs agreement.
He bemoaned the EU for being a ‘slow and not very effective’ negotiator of free trade agreements, as he claimed the UK has distinct advantages ‘over and above our economic weight’ – including the English language, law and the internet.
Mr Davis’s remarks came after an emotive speech from Tory former minister Anna Soubry, as she said a group of 40 ‘hard, no deal Brexiteer’ MPs should be ‘seen off’ by Mrs May’s government.
Ms Soubry was among those who said she could not support new clause 36 – which prevents the UK collecting tariffs on behalf of the EU unless the EU agrees to collect them from the UK – and amendment 73, which stops the UK from joining the EU’s VAT regime.
She told the debate: ‘This government is in grave danger of not just losing the plot but losing a considerable amount of support from the people of this country unless we get Brexit right.
‘Members on the frontbench and across this place should be shaking their heads with shame – this is the stuff of complete madness.
‘And the only reason that the government has accepted these amendments is because it is frightened of somewhere in the region of 40 members of parliament – the hard, no-deal Brexiteers, who should have been seen off a long time ago and should be seen off.’
‘In grave danger of losing the plot’