Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of additional UK Border Agency officials that will be needed in Northern Ireland as a result of the UK leaving the EU; and if she will make a statement.

Additional staffing required by Border Force, across the UK, following exit from the European Union will depend on the final outcome of the negotiations. Government departments are working together across a range of complex issues to develop our future approach to the border and immigration system.

The government recognises the unique case of the Northern Ireland – Ireland land border, and we have been clear about avoiding any physical infrastructure at the border. We have developed joint principles with the Commission to ensure the continuation of the Common Travel Area. Avoiding a ‘hard border’ between Ireland and Northern Ireland is one of the Government’s three strategic objectives that have informed development of the policy options outlined in the recently published Customs Bill White Paper.