Pressure is really mounting on the UK government to reveal how it intends to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland. While Theresa May has signalled she wants parts of the withdrawal text rewritten, she then delivered a speech on the UK’s future economic partnership with the EU and details of exactly how a hard border would be avoided on the island of Ireland were light. The Prime Minister noted the fact that “80 percent of North-South trade is carried out by micro, small and medium sized businesses,” and said that smaller traders should be able to continue to trade as normal with no new restrictions. A trusted trader scheme may be introduced for larger traders.

There was also some additional detail on customs that hadn’t been heard before with the Prime Minister saying that a new “partnership” with the EU may be the favoured option.

Theresa May said the UK could enforce its own customs arrangements and at the same time act as an agent for the EU when goods arrive in the UK that are bound for the EU. This would involve the UK mirroring the EU’s requirements for goods coming from the rest of the world. Another option would be a “highly streamlined customs arrangement” where the UK and EU jointly agree to operate a range of measures to ensure frictionless trade. One possible option proposed is to waive the requirement for entry and exit declarations for goods moving between the EU and the UK including in instances where goods move between the UK and the rest of the world via the EU.

An EU summit is pencilled in for the end of March and before that the UK Prime Minister needs agreement on a way to solve the Irish border issue. Otherwise negotiating the future relationship with the EU is going to be, to say the least, difficult.

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