Priti Patel unable to answer questions on post-Brexit checks between Northern Ireland and Britain

Priti Patel answers questions from MPs on Brexit. Photograph: Parliament TV. - Credit: Archant

The home secretary has been unable to clarify what checks will take place on goods moving between Northern Ireland and Great Britain after Brexit.

Priti Patel, who did not rule out the involvement of Border Force officers, said she would seek clarification on the matter, after her appearance at the Home Affairs Committee failed to clear up confusion around the issue.

Her inability to shed any light came after Northern Ireland secretary Julian Smith insisted that checks will be minimal after Brexit, but he too was unable to give any further detail on the nature of the checks.

The prime minister, meanwhile, has insisted that there will be no checks and no tariffs between Northern Ireland and GB.

At the committee hearing to discuss Home Office preparations for Brexit, Patel was asked by MP Stephen Doughty if Border Force officers will be involved in checking, either in person or electronically, exit declarations from Northern Ireland to Great Britain.

She said the situation “depends on various circumstances”, adding: “I’m not going to speak about hypothetical situations right now.”

Doughty said: “With the greatest respect, this is not a hypothetical situation. This is what the Brexit secretary has confirmed to a select committee in the House of Lords, and to myself and the chair of the Brexit committee on the floor of the House, that there will be exit checks required on goods transiting from Northern Ireland to GB, so within our own country.

“And I’m asking you, are Border Force officials going to be involved in that?”

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Patel replied: “We are not there yet, so this is the point to make, we are simply not there in that situation.”

Asked about customs checks, Paul Lincoln, director general at Border Force, told the Home Affairs Committee: “It’s not been decided whether or not we will do checks as an organisation. If goods are moving from GB to Northern Ireland they will have to make declarations.”

Patel said HMRC would “take the lead” on this issue.

Asked by Doughty if the Brexit secretary is correct in what he said about checks – that exit summary declarations will be required from Northern Ireland to Great Britain – Patel said: “That, I will get clarification on.”