Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of a hard border between Wales and the Republic of Ireland.

The Government has been working hard for some time on minimising the impact on trade flow in the event that the UK were to leave without a deal, this includes meeting with the Welsh ports, and we recognise the importance of trade between Wales and Ireland. As set out in the Political Declaration, the UK and EU have both agreed that the future economic partnership should be based on the principle of no tariffs, fees, charges or quantitative restrictions across all sectors.

The UK and Irish governments have also been clear that maintaining the CTA is a top priority. British citizens in Ireland and Irish citizens in the UK will continue to be able to live and work in each other’s countries, and to access healthcare, education, social welfare and benefits including state pensions.

In a no deal scenario, the Government will introduce customs easements to ensure that the flow of imports into Wales will be as smooth as possible. A pragmatic approach has also been agreed with the secretariat of the Common Transit Convention for managing movements under that convention. For exports the impact depends on handling in Dublin, so the Government is working with all stakeholders to keep potential disruption to a minimum.