No 10 sets out soft Irish border plan
● Government says no cameras or number plate recognition
The UK government has set out its vision of a free-flowing and unmonitored Irish border post-brexit, with the majority of local businesses avoiding customs tariffs.
The proposals outlined in a Whitehall position paper add some detail to Prime Minister Theresa May’s oft-repeated pledge to avoid a hardening of the border.
While the return of Troubles-era check points along the UK’S only land border with the EU has long been considered a non-runner by the government, there was an expectation it would seek to use technology to monitor major crossings along the 300-mile frontier.
But that was not the stance adopted in yesterday’s position paper.
Confounding expectations, it instead stated a desire to avoid any physical infrastructure
0 A man walks past and art installation called Soften the Border by artist Rita Duffy on the Irish border whatsoever, with officials confirming that meant no CCTV cameras or number plate recognition systems.
Mrs May said: “As we look forward to Brexit, of course, we do want to ensure that we don’t see a return to the borders of the past, we don’t see a return to a hard border, and that we are able to ensure that the crucial flow of goods and people between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland is able to continue in the future.”
The plan will only become reality if the UK can convince EU negotiators that it is feasible as well as being in the interests of the 27 remaining member states.
Resolving the challenges around the Irish border is one of three main ‘phase one’ issues in the Brexit negotiations, along with citizens rights and the financial exit settlement.
The EU 27 will decide in a crunch Brussels summit in October if sufficient progress has been made on all three to widen negotiations to issues such as future trading relations. In respect of those relations, the document proposes a customs arrangement that would see 80 per cent of businesses on the island of Ireland entirely exempt from any new tariffs post-brexit. The exemption would apply to small and mediumsized enterprises which are involved in localised crossborder trade.
In respect of larger companies engaged in international trade, the government suggests they could adhere to any new customs regime by completing retrospective declarations either online or at their premises.