Oral Question on the Brexit Irish Border – Tuesday 5th December 2017

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Lord Hain (Lab)

My Lords, why was anybody surprised by yesterday’s negotiating car crash in Brussels? Unionists were quite legitimately always going to insist that they could not be put in a status distinct from the rest of the UK. At the same time, to maintain the Irish border as open as it has been alignment would be needed on trade, customs and regulation. Surely the answer is to apply that alignment across the UK, then the problem is solved.

Lord Callanan

As the noble Lord is aware, we are leaving the customs union and the single market. Northern Ireland will be leaving them with us.