Thread by @FortinusGlobal

For those followers who got up early this morning to hear me speak on @BBCr4today my apologies - they bumped me overnight. For those interested in what I had to say - here goes. Question was what do we mean by borders, checks, and how can they work without infrastructure? /1

Lots of people talking about Customs borders, regulatory borders, hard borders, soft borders, seamless borders, internal borders, external borders. Checks for different reasons - health, safety, security, customs, tariffs, and so on. Nothing on the #commontravelarea at all. /2

The CTA enables people who enter either UK or IE to be checked at airports ports and harbours of each island by either an Irish Immigration Officer or a UK Border Force Officer and then move freely between the islands. Enforcement is conducted away from the border, internally. /3

This is a perimeter strategy enabling checks at the external border and free movement within it based on an Anglo Irish agreement recently ratified by the BIC and complied with the GFA. Yes it only applies to people not goods - but it has hardly raised an eyebrow in UK or EU. /4

Turning to goods. If the UK wants to leave the CU there has to be an external customs border. That can either sit in the Irish Sea (backstop) or on the Irish Border. If it sits on the Irish Border goods moving N/S must be subject to customs declarations. Does this mean “checks”?

Yes - but border checks these days are electronic not physical. UKBF gets 50 million decs a year already - rising to 250 million post Brexit. We could not possibly conduct physical checks on all those movements even if we wanted to. We are not alone in that. /6

So physical checks are intelligence led and targeted. Does this mean we have to do the check at the border itself? No. Indeed we can’t do that at other POEs either. We don’t have the space. We need to find another way by conducting physical checks elsewhere in the supply chain./7

This is best done at point of loading or unloading at facilities in the supply chain rather than at dedicated customs checkpoints at or near the border. And under codes of practice agreed by consent of the community. Thus “customs checks” can be conducted away from the border. /8

Turning to checks. We already do checks at internal borders which do not threaten sovereignty nor require membership of a customs union. Checks already take place within UK Borders on livestock or for security purposes. These are for various reasons,by different agencies. /9

By introducing additional selective checks on UK / IE routes and agreeing a common regulatory zone on the island of Ireland, the UK is meeting an EU red line to protect the EU single market. This makes use of the internal sea border in the UK for regulatory checks. /10

Regulatory checks on these routes will be selective; and remove the requirement for regulatory checks on the Irish Border. A major issue resolved, especially on SPS. Albeit time limited. We have better systems for checking at sea and airports than at land borders. /11

How does this differ from the backstop? Essentially it allows the whole of the UK (including NI) to leave the CU. Yes it means more checks on routes between UK and NI; and between NI and IE. But this is an inevitable consequence of the UK leaving the EU and the CU. /12

Does it mean 2 borders? Depends on your POV. It means more checks; but we already do internal checks now. Will it cause disruption? Yes some, especially to start with for some groups such as NI traders. Does it affect the sovereignty of the UK or Ireland? Don’t think so. /13

Will it lead to a smuggler’s charter? Not if UKBF and Irish Customs are let off the leash and allowed to collaborate. A joint border action plan could make it a smugglers nightmare. Have personal experience of this in both Canada and UK. Cross border targeting is very powerful/14

Governance arrangements are already in the GFA and The PD. Good fences make good neighbours. Can’t see any divergence on common desire on both sides to disrupt and deter international organised crime. Multi - Agency law Enforcement approach, data sharing possible outside EU. /15

Very easy to lose all this in the heat of politics. Rhetoric on borders, controls, checks always politically sensitive. Easy to argue for no checks and no borders. Hard to argue for the reverse. But fact is we have to have a new - dare I say Alternative - Arrangement here. /16

If we don’t want extra checks then the UK must stay in the CU. Or at least NI must stay in the CU. But if not we need to look at the multiple borders strategy, integrated border management and smart borders and recognise that borders and checks are constructed in different ways.

There is no such thing as a perfect Border; but the CTA shows that the UK and IE can work together on the free movement of people across the Irish Border. With goodwill on all sides this plan also allows goods to flow freely across it, with necessary checks conducted elsewhere.

I have worked with @ProsperityUK_ @GregHands @CapacityNow and others and been to IE and the EU many times to discuss #AlternativeArrangements many of which are in this plan. It won’t please everyone, but it’s up to the politicians now. I hope it leads to a deal. #weneedadeal ENDS