The purpose of having Ministers in our Government is so they can focus on their departments responsibilities and then their understanding and ideas can be brought together as close as possible in an agreed solution by the Prime Minister in a way that becomes the approach for the whole nation. One of the pressing priorities for the current UK Government is Brexit and one of the most toxic or challenging elements is the issue of the border between Northern Ireland and the European Union member in the South. In November a report was prepared for consideration over this issue by Dr Lars Karlsson, on behalf of the EU. It has had mixed responses. According to this piece in the Independent newspaper, the DUP stated it is “an excellent foundation to build on”. and an Irish DUP MP Emma Little-Pengelly wrote in a local newspaper “I strongly recommend that all read this – borders, in summary, need to be dragged into the 21st century,” On the other hand Peter Hain was very concerned that the need to pre-register as a traveller over the border “would be risking immediate civil unrest”. It is this element which has inspired Boris Johnson to compare the Irish Border with the London congestion charge. However residents on both sides of the Irish border, some 25,000 people who cross each day to work, and the many more who cross it for social reasons do not have quite the same approach as people travelling into London or across the Dartford Crossing of having to register within a few hours of their journey. Hain went on to state “If I was Northern Ireland Secretary and this report came on to my desk, its next stop would be the bin,”

Kate Hoey is a Brexiteer MP for Vauxhall and on 5th March in Parliament when Theresa May came to Parliament to speak about Brexit, Kate asked “Has she read a very good report by the European Parliament’s Committee on Constitutional Affairs about how the border issue can be solved by innovative technology and so on? Will she make sure that her officials also read that before they go back into negotiations?” The response from the Prime Minister was “I can tell the hon. Lady that I am aware of that report and have asked officials to look at it very carefully. I believe it gives some very good proposals for solutions.”

The truth is the document does not indicate that there can be borders that are as frictionless as some politicians claim, which is consistent with other free trade areas as Hilary Benn stated on 14th March “We have been taking evidence in the Select Committee on Exiting the European Union and looking at free trade agreements all over the world. Every single one of them—every single one—involves some checks on some goods. It does not matter whether it is Norway and Sweden or Canada and the United States of America. Even the much quoted but clearly little read by its proponents European Parliament report “Smart Border 2.0” acknowledges that, even with the most up-to-date technology, there would still need to be physical infrastructure, which is not compatible with maintaining an open border.” 

Although some of the Politicians acting on our behalf (Peter Hain is retired to be fair) have mixed views, one Minister who should be up to speed with the issues facing the Irish border is Karen Bradley, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, a role she has held since January. Before that appointment she has been a Minister within several departments over the last five years so she should understand the role of a Minister is to remain up to speed on key issues. Before that she was a management consultant so again she would understand that keeping abreast of significant pieces of research are vital. However on 21st March she was asked by SNP MP Peter Grant as part of a debate on the Irish border:

“Last week, the Prime Minister spoke quite favourably about the “Smart Border 2.0” report from Dr Lars Karlsson. Yesterday, in evidence to the Brexit Committee, Dr Karlsson confirmed that the report was not tailored to the needs of Ireland and that it was incompatible with the December agreement that there would be no hard border in Ireland. Can the Government confirm that Dr Karlsson’s report will not form the basis of any future negotiations or agreement with the EU?”

The really big shock is that Karen Bradley responded: “I confess that I am not familiar with that particular report. I will look into it.”

Clearly the Northern Ireland Minister is not responsible for Brexit, but she should be totally up to speed on the issues relating to the border between Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland! This response reveals a deeply concerning gap in the way our current Government appears to operate! In addition it appears as though the people who have read the SMART Border 2.0 report seem to have missed a great deal of the detail in what is only 35 relatively simple to read and understand pages.