Thread by @nick_gutteridge

At an @OpenEurope event in Brussels with members of the Alternative Arrangements Commission who are presenting the results of their report on tech solutions to the Irish border to a European audience. Will put quotes below 👇

First up @GregHands says the purpose of the AA Commission 'is to try and find a deal that can work'. Says: 'To be absolutely clear we're not a No Deal body. We're exactly the opposite. We're dedicated to finding a solution that will work in London, Brussels, Dublin and Belfast.'

Hands says the recommendations in its report will take 2-3 years to implement but can be agreed before October 31. 'None of it involves yet to be discovered technology, tech unicorns. All of it involves existing procedures somewhere in the world or even used by the EU itself.'

Hands says the Good Friday Agreement is 'at the heart of' the Commission's recommendations. He adds, to the audience which includes EU officials, that 'my guess would be this report is going to be influential with the new British PM whoever it turns out to be'.

Next @ShankerASingham says the panel disagrees with UK Govt interpretation of December 2017 report that there can be no checks in Northern Ireland. 'The only way to have no checks and controls in NI is if NI remains in the Single Market and Customs Union - there's no other way.'

Singham says: 'Our solution is not going to mean nothing is going to change on the island of Ireland. UK is leaving EU and unless it remains within Single Market & Customs Union there's going to be change. We have to ensure the change doesn't damage the GFA and peace process.'

Singham says 'one of biggest problems we've seen in last 2.5 yrs is the breakdown of trust' between UK & Irish governments - a 'Rubiks cube of mistrust' also involving the EU. 'This is the gate through which everything goes in terms of ultimately getting a deal between UK & EU.'

Singham: 'The Irish border lends itself to partly a trusted trader solution because you have a handful of companies - Coca Cola, Diageo, the dairy companies - who have very trusted supply chains which are very repeat supply chains.'

Singham says while UK-Ireland SPS regime (food safety, animal & plant health standards) 'may not be politically feasible now it's a decision we don't have to make now. UK isn't going to diverge immediately'. Says when divergence did happen NI would choose to align with EU or UK.

Singham: 'You don't solve the smuggling problem and the issue of smuggling increasing on the border with customs interventions. You solve it with checks in the market and that's what we're advocating.'

Singham: 'Checks, when people read the word they presume it means customs interventions. It actually means customs processes and formalities .The actual physical checks are very rare and are intelligence and data led and should become more so over time.'

But Singham concedes: 'We recognise we're asking people to do things they haven't done before and many people din't want these things to happen. We do not advocate that tech is going to solve this problem, but it's equally absurd to say tech plays no role in this process.'

Next @NickyMorgan01 says the UK and EU need to 'start dialogue' on the proposed solutions in the report otherwise 'it's going to be very difficult to find solutions'. Says: 'We're in the process of choosing a new PM. That will bring new changes to the UK political landscape.'

Morgan adds: 'HoC has very much a view on the agreement. So far it has been defeated 3 times and there's no settled view on things like second votes or avoiding a No Deal Brexit. 'It's something we all say we want to avoid' but easier to say what you don't want than what you do.

Tony Smith, ex head of UK Border Force: 'People have still got very long memories. Their perceptions of a border or mere perception of checks brings up memories of being stopped by military. We need to dispel that myth. We're not going to have any of those kinds of controls.'

Putting the Irish perspective is our colleague @PatrickSmyth1 - Europe Editor for the Irish Times. He points out that of course the Irish and indeed EU position is that only the backstop can solve the whole border problem and that's why it was invented.

He says Alternative arrangements 'can be part of mitigation of the problem but cannot be a solution' and points out NI business groups have branded the AA Commission proposals 'unworkable'. He describes the idea of an all-island SPS regime as 'putting the cart before the horse'.

Paddy says that 'moving the checks 40 miles away' from the border 'isn't going to solve the problem - it would only turn the new checks into targets for Republican extremists'. So the new economic zones proposed in the report 'wouldn't be useful' in that respect in his view.

Finally he questions whether these fixes can really be done in 2-3 yrs: 'If they're confident UK should simply accept backstop & Withdrawal Agreement in confidence it'll be able to move on in 2-3 years. Insistence on a timeframe is actually an admission this won't be possible.'

Asked how panel can bridge gap between fact their solutions are fundamentally based on a different interpretation of Dec 2017 agreement re UK obligations to that held by IE/EU. Hands says it won't 'be easy' but 'the real question is how much do we really want to find a solution'.