Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what the Government's policy is on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland when the UK leaves the EU.

The Prime Minister reaffirmed her commitments to the Northern Ireland and Ireland border in her speech at Mansion House, recognising the unique circumstances in Northern Ireland, and our shared commitments to avoiding a hard border.

The Joint Report also made clear that it is our intention to avoid a hard border and any physical infrastructure or related checks and controls between Northern Ireland and Ireland through our overall UK-EU relationship. If this does not prove possible, we will then propose specific solutions to address the unique circumstances of the island of Ireland. In the absence of agreed solutions, the UK will maintain full alignment with those rules of the internal market and the customs union which, now or in the future, support North-South co-operation, the all-island economy and the protection of the 1998 [Belfast] Agreement. We have always been clear that we will not agree anything that threatens the constitutional or economic integrity of the UK.

We have pledged to translate all of the commitments made in the Joint Report we published with the EU Commission in December into a legally binding Withdrawal Agreement. This includes all of those on Northern Ireland and Ireland. We remain absolutely committed to doing so.