Irish #Brexit border issue cannot be solved by tech alone - former UK official

Prime Minister Theresa May’s European Union withdrawal deal was voted down three times by parliament, mainly because of concerns over the Irish backstop, an insurance policy to prevent the return of a hard border in Ireland.

Both contenders to replace May, who will leave her post later this month, have said they are prepared to take Britain out of the bloc without a deal on Oct. 31 and have suggested that alternative arrangements, based on new technology, could provide a solution.

“A lot is talked about technology at the border and technology solutions. I think alternative arrangements is intended to try to find technology solutions,” said Karen Wheeler, who left her role as Director General of Britain’s Cross Government Border Delivery Group last week.

“Technology alone is not going to solve that border problem, it needs to be around other arrangements as well.”

She said any such solution needed to be effective on both sides of the border which was difficult to achieve when “we’re not able to discuss these things with Irish colleagues.

“In any case, the technology is not in place any time soon, the sorts of arrangements that will be necessary,” Wheeler told a panel discussion titled ‘Could the UK cope with a no deal Brexit?’.

“All of those are all fine but actually what you would need to do is ensure that industry, the traders, the road hauliers and the end-to-end supply chains were actually geared up for this as well. That is more than likely to take longer potentially than putting technology arrangements in.”