The Irish Border. The Remainers last stand.

Can someone please tell me why Mrs May and others keep perpetuating the myth that we can't have a free trade Brexit because of the Irish border?  

Oh, it’s easy to understand why Remainers like Mrs May wish us to think that.  But the reality is really rather different.  

Firstly, you have to understand that not everyone on the EU set up is a raving, swivel eyed and only out to destroy the UK.  Oh yes, there are many of them that’s true.  But let’s give credit to one man, Donald Tusk.  He is perhaps the only one in the negotiations who actually realise that the EU and the UK are best served by a good deal.  He realises, as he said to Mrs May, there are no cherries on the cake.  This was interpreted by some as a sleight at Mrs May.  The reality was, he was just telling the truth.  And nor would we want cherries as an adornment.  What we want is the substance of the cake.

So in his pragmatic way, last week Mr Tusk confirmed that Canada +++ is still on the table.  It is an option.  So why Mrs May keeps saying there is no other option other than Chequers is beginning to sound rather silly.  Yes, there are strings attached. They could be negotiated.   But substantially, it’s a deal I think most would find acceptable.  Except the SNP who threaten to vote down any deal that comes though the UK parliament.    

Back to the border.  You can get Canada +++ and retain the border as barrier-free as it is today.  The only thing stopping it happening is the Remainer politicians like Mrs May who see it as a way to scupper any agreement and keep us under ECJ rule.   

And what does today’s border look like?  Yes, the tarmac changes colour.  But look closely around it.  Search it on GoogleMaps.  There is a complete infrastructure already in place in the form of ANPR cameras.  Does it cause disruption?  Does anyone complain that both sides are recording details of every vehicle that crosses the line on the tarmac?   And what of the other stuff, VAT, tax, excise and currency?  A border already exists for all these things.  So no new border.  The only thing needed to be added is Customs.  And to help Mrs May, there is a business in London that has just done such a project, in six months, for Singapore. 

So leaving the single market and the customs union, a promise, or should I say a threat, made by David Cameron, Vince Cable, Nick Clegg, George Osborne, Gordon Brown, Nicola Sturgeon and others for a Canada-style FTA adds one more item:  customs.     

But, let’s take an independent view from Lars Karlsson, a former director of the World Customs Organisation.  He has concluded that existing computerised customs clearing methods used across much of the world mean physical border infrastructure is unnecessary.  And from the UK?  Well, the chief executive of HMRC notes that companies currently traversing the border complete VAT returns electronically in a way that could be applied to future customs declarations.  Additional physical inspections by officials already happen away from the border.  So the Irish Border? The only people who think it’s a problem are those that want to stop us leaving the EU.