UK outlines ideas to avoid hard border in Northern Ireland

The UK government has put forward proposals aimed at making the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland as frictionless as possible post-Brexit.

In Future Customs Arrangements, a paper published on 15 August, the UK government rejected the idea of creating a customs border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The paper was released two weeks before the next round of Brexit talks with the European Council and the European Commission, due to start on 28 August.

According to the UK government, there are two ways of avoiding a hard border: a streamlined customs arrangement or a customs partnership with the rest of the European Union.