Asked by Lord Berkeley To ask Her Majesty’s Government what
detailed information they have provided to (1) HMRC, and (2) the
transport and related industries, to enable planning and
procurement for delay-free border crossings between the United
Kingdom and European Union member states immediately following the
United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union. The...Request free trial
Asked by
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To ask Her Majesty’s Government what detailed information
they have provided to (1) HMRC, and (2) the transport and
related industries, to enable planning and procurement for
delay-free border crossings between the United Kingdom and
European Union member states immediately following the
United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union.
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Transport (Baroness Sugg) (Con)
My Lords, a number of government departments, including
HMRC, are working together to ensure a co-ordinated
approach to our exit preparations for the border. The
Department for Exiting the European Union has established
clear governance arrangements to scrutinise and assure
policy development on exit across Whitehall. The Government
continue to engage with a wide range of businesses on exit
readiness and are developing border plans through
discussion with industry bodies, including ports and
airports.
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(Lab)
I am grateful to the Minister for that Answer, which I
might refer to as motherhood and apple pie—it is a nice
piece of pie, though—but I wanted some detail. Perhaps I
can offer her some detail; I have just received it from MDS
Transmodal, which compiles statistics across the channel.
Apparently, in 2014, just-in-time deliveries—the ones that
could be held up most by customs—were valued at £282
billion. That includes £30 billion of fruit and veg and
temperature-controlled goods, but also parts for aircraft,
cars and other manufacture. If those do not operate, where
will the businesses—Toyota, et cetera—go? Will the Minister
congratulate the only person who has put his head above the
parapet, someone called , who runs HMRC? He
was reported in the Sun on 30 October as saying that it
might take five years to set up a post-Brexit customs
system that worked. What are the Government going to do in
the meantime?
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My Lords, of course we understand the importance of ensuring
a smooth customs operation post exit and we are doing all
that we can to avoid unnecessary time and cost to the
process. In the Budget today, the Chancellor has just
announced that we are investing a further £3 billion, on top
of the £700 million already committed, to prepare Britain for
every possible eventuality and to ensure that we prosper
after we leave the EU.
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(CB)
My Lords, is the Minister aware that new, integrated digital
economy platforms that cover jointly e-logistics, e-commerce,
e-finance and e-insurance are in the making, spearheaded not
least by the public-private partnership GCEL? It could offer
solutions to government for post-Brexit, delay-free EU border
crossings, the Irish question and much more. If the Minister
would care to have her officials put in touch with people who
can answer much more than me, I would be delighted to have
that happen.
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I would be delighted to put our officials in touch. We
absolutely are aware of the technology-based options and are
looking at those. In our future partnership paper, which we
published in August, we proposed that we would use a highly
stream- lined customs arrangement and bilateral
technology-based solutions to speed up processes and ensure
that traffic can flow smoothly.
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(Con)
Will my noble friend confirm that the Irish negotiations for
delay-free border crossings are well advanced, with a large
amount of agreement on both sides? Will that not act as a
template for our negotiations with the rest of the EU
continent?
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I agree with my noble friend that it is absolutely key to
ensure a close relationship between Northern Ireland and
Ireland after exit. As we have made clear, we must aim to
avoid any physical infrastructure on the land border. We
recognise the economic, social and cultural context of the
border. Of course, we are working together to find a creative
solution.
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(LD)
My Lords, the Government promised a lorry park on the M20 to
relieve pressure on the police, the motorway and the people
of Kent when Operation Stack needs to be implemented in
future but, two years later, they are still struggling with
that very modest plan. If the Government cannot manage a
planning application, how can we have any confidence that
they will be able to cope with the complex processes that
they need to introduce to customs systems in the time that we
have until their proposed Brexit?
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My Lords, we are fully committed to finding a permanent
solution to Operation Stack. Ahead of exiting the EU, we have
commissioned Highways England to deliver an interim solution
that will store HGVs on the M20 and allow two lanes of
traffic in both directions. We are also extending the
arrangement with Manston airfield so that, if capacity is
exceeded, HGVs can divert to Manston. We are confident that
that will be in place in March 2019. That will mean that the
M20 will remain open to traffic in both directions and, if
Operation Stack is required, the disruption to local traffic
will be much lower. Our focus is on engineering a
frictionless border.
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(Lab)
The Minister has said with great confidence but little
specific detail that the Government are doing all that they
can to ensure a smooth Brexit. Can she perhaps tell us what
the most important of those steps is to ensure a smooth
Brexit and, at the same time, perhaps comment on the remarks
from the Irish Foreign Minister, who said that the Irish
would be prepared to use their veto on negotiations were
there not to be a seamless border between the Republic and
the United Kingdom?
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My Lords, one of our objectives is, of course, to provide as
seamless a border as possible.
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How?
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One thing that the Government have done is to set up the
Border Planning Group. Of course, multiple departments and
agencies are involved in the border and I am sure that noble
Lords will appreciate the complexities of that. The planning
group has been set up to understand the interactions,
interdependencies and cumulative effects at the border. The
group works closely with departments across government to
ensure that we have as frictionless a border as possible.
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(CB)
My Lords, I live near the border between the United Kingdom
and the Republic of Ireland. Can the Minister confirm that
persons will have no inhibition in crossing that border and
that the common travel area is going to continue after
Brexit? Secondly, can she confirm that, even in the context
of present membership of the European Union, customs operate
on both sides of the border because there are different rates
of tax on fuel and alcohol, with VAT, and on other items? Can
she confirm that customs will continue to operate on both
sides of the border, as they do now, after Brexit?
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My Lords, the UK is committed to maintaining the common
travel area and protecting the rights enjoyed by British and
Irish citizens in each other’s states and, of course, we will
protect the ability to move freely within the UK and between
the UK and Ireland. As I said, we recognise the special
importance of this to people in their daily lives. The noble
Lord is right to point out that customs arrangements exist on
both sides of the border and, of course, that will continue
after exit.
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