Despite the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) angrily rejecting any suggestion of a border “in the Irish Sea”, a leaked paper reveals that officials have been working on a blueprint “to be deployed as necessary in the negotiation process”.
The proposal is described as “infinitely preferable” to a hard land border on the island of Ireland and the risk of a return to violence. The European Union has already rejected Theresa May’s two main proposals: maximum facilitation, which would involve some border infrastructure, and a customs partnership, in which the UK would mirror Brussels’ customs rules and collect tariffs for the EU. [...]
While acknowledging these could be seen to be “inherently incompatible positions”, the paper – drawn up by senior officials working on Brexit in the Northern Ireland executive – argues that “ports and airports provide helpful opportunities for surveillance that assist with risk management even when they do not have any of the visible paraphernalia of a border”.
The DUP leader, Arlene Foster, has claimed that opting for checks on trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK would be constitutionally unacceptable and economically catastrophic.
The document deals with this claim by stating: “Concern that a model without a land border would imply ‘a border in the Irish Sea’ could be addressed by providing a ‘green channel’ for goods moving between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, so that there need be no check or constraint on movement.”
It adds: “The very simple and important practical point is that loading on to a ship or aeroplane always involves both a pause in movement and some checks of ‘entitlement to board’ – obviously neither if these apply at the land border. Pragmatic extension of a present reality, with the lightest possible touch required to manage risk, seems infinitely preferable to ‘a return to the border of the past’.
“As is the case at the English Channel ports, there would still be significant issues if the ‘time to board’ is materially higher than at present, but it is clear that solutions are required in relation to that issue for the UK as a whole.” [...]
The leaked document suggests there would need to be a requirement on traders between Northern Ireland and Great Britain to provide information ahead of time for it to work, and “a system of random and intelligence-/data-based checks” on goods going through the “green channel”.
Goods moving from the Republic of Ireland to Great Britain via Northern Ireland would be subject to checks in a “red channel” at the port or airport where they leave the island of Ireland.
Imports from Great Britain and the rest of the world to Northern Ireland that are not permitted to enter the single market would also be subjected to “red channel checks”, with “draconian penalties for noncompliance”.
“The degree to which these protections are needed would depend on the degree of regulatory divergence that would apply sector by sector, and clearly that may evolve over time from the status quo of regulatory uniformity,” the 19-page document says.
Officials concede in the document that a major test of their approach would be whether it was “perceived politically as in effect creating a hard border with the UK (or between Ireland and the rest of the EU)”.
It is also recognised that keeping the border open on the island of Ireland will allow goods not compliant with EU or UK trade policy to move freely around the two jurisdictions. “But the same risk is tolerated to some degree in other contexts (eg between Switzerland and its EU neighbours),” the paper argues. “The commitment to support the all-island economy suggests that some degree of risk can be accepted.” [...]
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