Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask Her Majesty's Government what expenditure, if any, they have incurred on developing potential technological solutions to issues relating to the Irish border after Brexit.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Consideration of policy options for the UK’s orderly withdrawal from the European Union have been resourced from Departmental budgets and no figures are available as to the cost of consideration of specific options.
The EU and the UK have agreed in the Political Declaration to work together to exchange information on facilitative arrangements and technologies. The Prime Minister is seeking legally binding changes to the Withdrawal Agreement that deal with concerns on the backstop, while guaranteeing no return to a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.
There are a number of ways to secure a backstop that Parliament can support. We are engaging constructively with the details of proposals.
Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the speech by the Prime Minister on 20 July 2018 in Belfast, what assessment they have made of whether there may be technological solutions to issues relating to the Irish border after Brexit.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Prime Minister in her 5 February speech in Belfast reaffirmed the UK Government commitment to delivering a Brexit that ensures no return to a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, including any physical infrastructure. While technology could play a part in this, and alternative arrangements are being looked at, these must be ones that can be made to work for the particular circumstances of Northern Ireland.