Q&A
What are the facts about the border?
The 310-mile border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland has been one of the most intractable issues in the Brexit negotiations. There are currently more than 300 crossing points across which goods and people can move freely. But the crunch question is what happens after Brexit, when Northern Ireland – along with the rest of the UK – leaves the EU.
How much trade is there?
Relatively little. Brexiteers point out that trade between Northern Ireland and the Republic makes up 5 per cent of the province’s economy. The figure the other way is 1.6 per cent. Both Northern Ireland and the Republic’s trade relationships with Great Britain are much more significant. Trade with Great Britain is 21 per cent of Northern Irish GDP, and around 12 per cent of all Irish exports go to Great Britain.
What is the problem?
In short, how to preserve an open border with different customs regimes and regulations for goods either side of the line. All sides agree there must be no ‘hard’ border – meaning physical barriers and border guards. These were dismantled as part of the peace process and secured by the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. Northern Ireland’s chief constable has said any ‘significant physical infrastructure’ would become a target for dissident Republican terrorists.
What does the EU say?
Chief negotiator Michel Barnier says Northern Ireland must stay in the customs union and single market to preserve the open border with the Republic and remove the need for any customs or regulatory checks. The EU says there should be a customs and regulatory border at sea ports on either side of the Irish Sea.
Why does Mrs May find this unacceptable?
Such a ‘sea border’ would be a symbolic sign of division between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The PM has also been adamant this is a threat to the ‘constitutional integrity’ of the UK and ‘no UK prime minister could ever agree to it’. Northern Ireland would become – to a large extent – an annexe of the EU, following EU rules. To Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party – on which Mrs May relies for her Commons majority – this is a non-starter.
What is her answer?
Chequers. This proposes, in effect, keeping the whole of the UK in the single market for goods, which deals with the problem of different regulatory standards. On customs, Mrs May proposes a ‘facilitated customs arrangement’, with a common customs border. Importers would pay different tariffs depending on where goods were headed, and the UK would collect tariffs for the EU. In theory this allows the UK to negotiate trade deals with third countries and cut tariffs.
What does Boris Johnson say?
In his newspaper column yesterday, the former Foreign Secretary said the Northern Ireland issue has been ‘ingeniously manipulated’ both by Brussels and No 10 ‘so as to keep Britain effectively in the customs union and single market’. The Irish border problem is ‘fixable’, he argued.
What is his answer?
Mr Johnson believes there is a technological solution and no hard border is necessary. Checks would take place in warehouses or away from the border. There are only 50 large companies that trade across the border, and small traders would be exempted entirely. Other Brexiteers point to highly automated ports such as Felixstowe as providing the likely solutions. Mr Johnson said the Irish government began working on these answers, but the UK Government was ‘not really interested’.
Is that true?
Some in Ireland have argued a technological solution is possible, including former Irish prime ministers Bertie Ahern and Enda Kenny. But the tone changed under Leo Varadkar, who took office in June last year. Since then the Irish have been in lock step with Mr Barnier, and the border has become the central issue of the talks.