Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Callanan on 13 February (HL13385), which characteristics beyond infrastructure in their view constitute a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

From the outset of the negotiations the Prime Minister has been clear that there should be no return to the borders of the past, and that maintaining an open, seamless border has been the cornerstone for the success of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement. That is why the December Joint Report made clear that the UK would avoid a hard border, including any physical infrastructure or related checks and controls.

Last week, the Government published a Written Ministerial Statement noting that joint UK-EU work on alternative arrangements will be an important strand of the next phase of negotiations. In anticipation of this, and to ensure that the UK is ready to move at pace in the next phase, the Government is putting in place the UK’s arrangements to support this work, with a team drawing in all the relevant departments including DExEU, HMT, HMRC, BEIS, DEFRA, Home Office, and the NIO. This will report directly to the UK’s negotiating team.