The border in Ireland is a real poser. No one wants to go back to a 'hard border' but what realistic alternatives are there? The UK government wants it to be some sort of non-border, with no checks, no customs - well, nothing at all, in fact. Clearly that would be a lot cheaper than trying to police 300 crossing points, as well as avoiding annoying the locals - the locals who voted to Remain, and who are still balancing on the precarious Good Friday agreement which aims to keep the peace.
One government suggestion is to 'align' the customs rules of the UK with those of the EU (i.e. any rules they pass we pass). Sounds vaguely sensible, though the red-tape-deniers will be up in arms. Unfortunately simply 'aligning' customs rules doesn't deal with the fact that the EU imposes tariffs on any import from a non-EU country.
Much of the cross-border trade is local, so tariffs would kill that very quickly, both with the increased cost and with the delays imposed. Also it isn't entirely clear how tariff payments will be policed if there are no border checks.
So another idea is that the EU will agree not to charge tariffs on goods from smaller traders and there will be some sort of 'trusted trader' arrangement for larger companies exporting to Eire.
Sounds reasonable, as long as you forget that this is actually a trade deal and so will need to go through the whole process of negotiation - just for starters, what is a 'smaller' trader? If this is agreed then what about the other land borders of the EU? Will the same rules have to apply, or can this be done as a one-off deal? Remember that all the EU states need to agree on this.
Nothing is mentioned about immigrants in the government paper. With Eire in the EU and sharing an unpoliced border with the UK, clearly there are some concerns if you want to keep people out.
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