Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 7 July 2016 to Question 41433, what assessment she has made of the compatibility of the Common Travel Area with a hard border between the UK and the EU after the UK has left the EU.

The Common Travel Area (CTA) arrangement pre-dates the EU and we re-main committed to it. The Prime Minister and the Taoiseach have reiterated their intention for both countries to work together to maintain the CTA.

At present the UK remains in the EU and there will be no immediate changes. A meeting between UK and Ireland senior officials has already taken place underlining our desire to work together, when the UK begins to negotiate its exit from the EU, to maintain the benefits of the CTA.