There should be no border posts between Ireland and the British province of Northern Ireland after Brexit, Britain said in an early attempt to resolve one of the most complex aspects of its EU exit.
About 30,000 people cross the 500km border every day without customs or immigration checks, testing negotiators who have to work out how to tighten controls without inflaming tensions in a region where about 3,600 people were killed before a peace agreement in 1998.
The British government said in a paper published yesterday that it wanted a seamless and frictionless frontier without “physical border infrastructure and border posts,” adding that new customs arrangements it proposed on Tuesday would allow the free flow of goods.
Photo: Reuters
The issue of how the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland will fare is particularly sensitive given the decades of violence over whether it should be part of Britain or Ireland.
“Both sides need to show flexibility and imagination when it comes to the border issue in Northern Ireland,” a British government source said.
Britain on Tuesday put forward two options for future customs arrangements with the EU: The first would involve no customs border at all, while a second detailed “highly streamlined” customs checks.
However, the idea met with skepticism among some of Britain’s soon-to-be former EU partners, with one EU official describing the idea of an invisible border as “fantasy.”
“We have some very clear principles. Top of our list is to agree upfront no physical border infrastructure — that would mean a return to the border posts of the past and is completely unacceptable to the UK,” the British source said.
The EU has repeatedly warned that Britain cannot expect to maintain the benefits of the European single market after Brexit, with EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier saying last month that “frictionless trade” with the EU was not possible.
However, the British government also said it wants to maintain a Common Travel Area, a pact that allows free movement between the UK and Ireland for British and Irish citizens.
In addition, it rejected the idea of a customs border in the Irish Sea that separates England, Wales and Scotland from Ireland and Northern Ireland as “not constitutionally or economically viable.”
Northern Ireland sold £2.7 billion (US$3.47 billion) of goods into Ireland in 2015, according to official figures, and many businesses have complex supply chains that involve crossing the border multiple times during the production process.
Britain’s pledge to seek a seamless and frictionless frontier is welcome, Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Simon Coveney said yesterday, though more detail was needed.
Coveney said that in relation to the thorny issue of the border and custom arrangements, he welcomed the principles behind Britain’s approach.
“The vast majority of those principles I think reflect the kind of language that we have been using ... and so therefore is welcome,” Coveney told reporters. “Of course what we don’t have though is the detail as to how it’s going to work.”
The border is one of three priority issues that the EU is insisting must be dealt with during the opening rounds of talks before moving on to Britain’s future relationship with the bloc.
The first two rounds of divorce talks in Brussels have made limited progress, prompting the EU to warn the next phase — which Britain is keen to get to — could be delayed unless British Prime Minister Theresa May’s team come armed with more detail.
However, pro-EU campaign group Open Britain said the government’s proposal lacked specifics.
“They don’t outline how a frictionless or seamless border can be achieved when the UK leaves the EU and won’t reassure anybody about the impact of Brexit on Northern Ireland,” Labour Party lawmaker Conor McGinn said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese