Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what information he holds on the amount of trade originating in the Irish Republic which transited the UK en route to overseas destinations in each of the last five years.

As the UK and Ireland are currently both members of the EU Customs Union, it is not possible to provide data specifically on the volume of trade that moves through the UK from Ireland en route to overseas destinations. This is because there are no customs formalities required between the two countries which would allow the Government to quantify such movement.

There is broader information available on trade between the UK and Ireland. HMRC publishes the Overseas Trade Statistics at uktradeinfo.com, which indicate that £30bn of goods were traded between the UK and Ireland in 2016 (£16.9bn exported from the UK, £13.1bn imported).