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Measures to avoid a hard border with Ireland could be ready within three years, according to an independent commission chaired by senior UK Conservative politicians.<\/p>\nMeasures to avoid a hard border with Ireland could be ready within three years, according to an independent commission chaired by senior UK Conservative politicians.<\/p>\n
The group\u2019s recommendations are aimed at using existing legal frameworks and technology to find alternatives to the controversial Irish backstop measure in Theresa May\u2019s Brexit deal.<\/p>\n
But critics said the proposals would be costly and would come too late for a deal to be reached by the current October 31 Brexit date.<\/p>\n
The Alternative Arrangements Commission was set up by the Prosperity UK think tank.<\/p>\n
Its interim report recommends:<\/p>\n
The commission was chaired by Tory former ministers Nicky Morgan and Greg Hands.<\/p>\n
Treasury Select Committee chairwoman Mrs Morgan said: \u201cThe commission has met its three conditions: to uphold the vital Belfast-Good Friday Agreement; to harness existing technologies and customs best practice, not any futuristic high-tech unicorns; and to be compatible with any of the possible Brexit outcomes, including the existing Withdrawal Agreement.<\/p>\n
\u201cA successful agreement and roll-out of alternative arrangements would supersede the need for the backstop.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Owen Smith, former shadow Northern Ireland secretary and a supporter of the People\u2019s Vote campaign for a second referendum, said: \u201cThe idea of trying to replace the Northern Ireland backstop with so-called alternative arrangements has already been tested to destruction.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no political will to do so from either Ireland, the rest of the EU or most importantly the people of Northern Ireland, particularly those living on or near the border.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the commission was \u201ca desperate attempt to make a square peg fit into a round hole in order to try and hold the warring factions of the Conservative Party together\u201d.<\/p>\n
Naomi Smith, head of the pro-EU Best for Britain campaign, said \u201ca solution years down the line won\u2019t cut it: we have a deadline of October 31 this year\u201d and the proposals would \u201cwrap the island of Ireland in red tape and bureaucracy \u2013 at a hefty cost to the British taxpayer\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cA quicker, cheaper and more efficient option would be to stop Brexit,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n