SDLP Leader Colum Eastwood has described a British Government position paper on Brexit and Ireland as a ‘spin document’ that is conflicting, chaotic and deficient.
The British government has said there must be an “unprecedented solution” for the border between the North of Ireland and the Republic after Brexit.
The position paper focuses on the need to avoid a hard border.
The government stresses there should be no physical infrastructure, such as customs posts, at the border, which has about 200 crossing points.
It also does not envisage CCTV cameras or number plate recognition technology at the border, or set back from it.
Instead, the government is arguing for a wide-ranging exemption under which small and medium-sized businesses will not have to comply with any new customs tariffs.
But Mr Eastwood hit out at the proposals saying: “This paper is a long way away from meeting the needs of people on this island.
“Far from recognising the need for a special dispensation to protect people in Northern Ireland, the British Government seems to want the EU to bend over backwards to accommodate their ambitions but give very little in return.
“On practical matters, the British Government position is confused and conflicting.
“We know that the Irish Government, through the European Union, opposes a hard border, customs posts and CCTV monitoring.
“The British Government now claims to be opposed to such measures as well. How can that be reconciled with their plan to abandon the Customs Union?
“Even the British Government’s starting point – that the Good Friday Agreement is not predicated on the European Union – is a fundamental misread of Irish nationalism.
“It fails to recognise that a primary selling point of the agreement for our community was greater cooperation and harmonisation across this island and that the people of the island could be united under the banner of our common European identity.
“There is an easier answer to the Irish border question – the British Government could give up its hard Brexit position and negotiate to remain a member of the European customs union,” said the Foyle MLA.
