Daniel Hannan (ECR). – Mr President, the discussions that we have been having about the future status of Northern Ireland and the border within Ireland have an oddly antiquated, almost 19th century feel as though borders were some terrific event involving customs officers with great epaulets and peaked caps who have to rifle through your bags and check every item. Of course, these days the overwhelming majority of customs checks are done online and in advance. Indeed, advances in blockchain will eventually make customs checks between all advanced economies irrelevant.

We already have a border on the island of Ireland. There are differential regulations, differential tax rates. There is some cross-border smuggling now, and it is policed away from the border. There is no reason why, provided we have a deep and comprehensive free trade agreement between the United Kingdom and the European Union based on mutual recognition, we cannot carry on with the existing arrangements.