The Irish border issue cannot be used to hollow out Brexit

At Chequers today the task in front of the Prime Minister and colleagues is simple but not easy. It is this: to deliver on what the people told us to do when they voted to leave the EU. Those of us who support Mrs May must make it clear that imaginary problems cannot be added to her workload. Chief among these is the idea that Ireland constitutes an impassable obstacle to a genuine Brexit and any notion that an endless “transition” leading to “Brino” (Brexit in Name Only) is a solution.

Examining the border first, to paraphrase Gerry Adams, it has not gone away you know. The fable that Brexit will reintroduce a vanished border is just that, a myth. The only “hard border” was that needed to fight the terrorists’ link to Mr Adams.

Some have recklessly speculated that Brexit would be a cause for the resumption of terrorism. Others claimed that such infrastructure, as the British border with the Republic entails, will be attacked. What sort of argument is this? The whole point of the peace process has been to remove the threat of violence from politics.

As both Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and the European Parliament seem to agree that a frictionless border is possible, this is what the Government should implement.

The European Research Group, of which I am chairman, has produced a paper setting out forms of agreement and technical solutions that could ensure this. Ultimately, the UK could simply refuse to have any additional border controls. This is a decision that a sovereign state could take.

Returning to the mainland and the Government’s leaked transition document, this appears to be a poor piece of work. It has been disowned by ministers as not representing government policy. Transition must be time limited. The EU suggests 21 months. It is peculiar that the leak reveals Whitehall proposing the opposite. There is also no mention of the ability to apply immigration controls. Concern over lost control over migration was a significant issue in the referendum. Whoever compiled this document proposes no changes to it for an indefinite period and would thereby let down millions of voters.

To avoid the perversion of democracy that Brino would be, it is essential that we are able to sign trade deals in the fixed transition period. This has, until now, been the Government’s position. Were we to concede on this point there would be no need for the Department for International Trade and, since the Prime Minister established it, it would be eccentric to leave it nothing to do.

The border with the Republic will, in truth, be settled only when we agree the future of trade or by our unilateral action. We want what our Irish friends have had for a century: the freedom to follow our own star. Our choice is to go. Our friends should respect our choices as we respects theirs.

Jacob Rees-mogg MP is chairman of the European Research Group