Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of whether the EU can reach a legally binding agreement with the UK on the future trading relationships across the border between Ireland and the UK, before the UK has left the EU.

While we remain committed to resolving the Northern Ireland border through our overall economic relationship, the backstop is a critical issue and we stand by all our commitments. There must be a legally operative backstop in the Withdrawal Agreement - and one that is fully consistent with all the commitments made in the Joint Report.

We agree that we need to maintain a measured and pragmatic approach to this issue, whilst respecting the key principles of both sides and we are confident that a deal is in the interests of both sides, so we approach these negotiations anticipating success.