No hard Irish border ever required - UK Customs agreed with Irish Customs in 2017

“No border infrastructure needed between N.I. and Ireland under any circumstances” – Head of HMRC

UK Parliament was told in 2017 by HMRC it was prevented from agreeing N.I. border solution with Irish colleagues

Informing the World about the EU's vindictive 'Northern Ireland Protocol'
Part Four of a series of reports demonstrating the EU's true nature

The full series:-
Part One - The Protocol itself | Part Two - How the EU has threatened peace | Part Three - Irish Customs overruled by EU | Part Four - UK Customs stopped from solution by EU (this report) | Part Five - Trade involved is minuscule

In Part Three of this series yesterday, Facts4EU.Org published the testimony of the heads of the Irish Revenue to the committee of their own parliament, the Dáil, four years ago in 2017. This showed that according to Irish Customs:

Simple solutions were available without the need for the Northern Ireland Protocol, and
No infrastructure (“a hard border”) would be required, and
Irish Customs were prevented from speaking to their British counterparts

Today we publish the damning testimony of the UK Customs boss, backing up his Irish colleagues

In 2017 Sir Jon Thompson was Chief Executive and Permanent Secretary at HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). On Wednesday 29 November 2017 he gave formal testimony to the UK Parliament's Exiting the European Union Committee, chaired by arch-Remainer Hilary Benn MP.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

HMRC testimony to UK Parliament, 2017

No infrastructure between N.I. and Ireland is required under any circumstances
HMRC boss tells it like it is over Irish question
New customs system was on schedule and would be online two months before the first planned Brexit
HMRC were not allowed to discuss new arrangements with Irish and French customs

UK and Irish Customs in broad agreement back in 2017, then stopped from implementing

Sir Jon’s testimony supports that of his Irish colleagues and is damning for the EU and for the Irish government.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

KEY EXCERPTS – HEAD OF HMRC – POST-BREXIT CUSTOMS & BORDERS

Sir Jon Thompson giving evidence to the Exiting the European Union Committee, Wed 29 Nov 2017. Testimony was given on the basis that the entire UK (including Northern Ireland) would be OUT of the Single Market, and OUT of the Customs Union

On the new Customs Declaration Service

Sir Jon Thompson, Head of HMRC: “Actually the project is completely on track. We have every confidence it will be completed by January 2019. The project has met all of its milestones in the current year. Traders will begin the migration to the new system in July 2018.”

On the Transition Period

Q: “Is it your anticipation that things will just carry on as they are at the moment?”

Sir Jon Thompson, Head of HMRC: “Yes.”

On there being no need for a hard border (nor the Northern Ireland Protocol)

Q: “The government wants no border and no infrastructure - how can the government’s policy be achieved?”

Sir Jon Thompson, Head of HMRC: “The assumption is there’s a negotiated settlement with the EU in which the highly streamlined customs arrangement is adopted. We stay in the common transit convention, there’s mutual recognition of the authorised economic operator scheme, and so on.” [Mr Thompson refers the Committee to the government papers issued on this question in August 2017.]

“Because of the unique Northern Ireland/Ireland situation you need to add on three additional things which are set out in the NI paper.”

“First of all to maximise the authorised economic operator scheme, secondly to seek a derogation for small traders because there needs to be a recognition that the border area is very much a local economy in which traders cross the border on a regular basis, and thirdly that we would move to a system of self-assessment, which is set out in the Union Customs Code and which is very much the direction of travel for the European Union.”

“We believe that would cover the vast majority of trade between Ireland and Northern Ireland. If there were any checks they would be risk and intelligence based checks and they would take place well away from the legal border.”

Q: “In the event of no deal, would it be possible to achieve no border infrastructure?”

Sir Jon Thompson, Head of HMRC: “It’s possible for the government to make a unilateral decision of what it will do at the border, which would be in line to my answer to your previous question.”
“We do not believe we require any infrastructure between Northern Ireland and Ireland under any circumstances.”

On the EU preventing the UK and Irish Customs organisations from implementing solutions

Q: “Have you had any dealings with the Irish about this?”

Sir Jon Thompson, Head of HMRC: “There are no formal conversations with either the French or the Irish. We cannot talk to Customs or taxation management organisations in either of those countries. There are only informal conversations with the Belgians and the Dutch.”

Q: “From everything you’ve said, this isn’t much of an issue, or am I missing something? From our point of view, there’s no reason why it can’t be business as usual?”

Sir Jon Thompson, Head of HMRC: “That is correct. That is correct. That is the consistent advice we have given ministers.”

The above is the formal testimony of the then Chief Executive and Permanent Secretary at HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), Sir Jon Thompson, in November 2017 to a committee of the UK Parliament. Facts4EU.Org has repeatedly tried to get this into the public domain.

Observations

Both the EU and the Irish Varadkar government carry a heavy responsibility

It’s clear that both the Irish and British Customs organisations were very frustrated at not being allowed to speak to each other. It’s equally clear that they shared the same pragmatic approach in implementing workable solutions which would still avoid a hard border and would have avoided any ‘Protocol’ of the type insisted upon by the EU.

When reviewing the testimony of the Irish Customs which we provided yesterday, and the British Customs which we’re providing today, it must be remembered that these people are public servants. They were unable to say what they truly felt. We have watched – and had to transcribe laboriously – their testimony to their respective parliaments. Their frustration is plain to see.

If they had been allowed by the EU and by the Dublin government to get on with their jobs, working together to sort out the simplest solutions, they would have put in place a soft border plan almost faster than you can say “British bangers barbecued in Bangor”.

Instead, these highly experienced and willing public servants were stopped in their tracks by ideologically-based diktats from Brussels and Dublin.

The N.I. border issue is a damning symbol of the rot at the heart of the entire EU ‘Projekt’

For years Facts4EU.Org has provided evidence on the whole question of the Northern Ireland border, the EU’s Protocol, and the sheer insanity of what should have been a non-issue being blown up up into something which now threatens peace in Northern Ireland and which seriously risks the fragmentation of the United Kingdom.

Only a dysfunctional and bullying cabal in the heart of Brussels could have dreamt this up, with the aid of an Irish political class seeing an opportunity to seize part of the territory of the United Kingdom for itself.

In Part Five of this series we will put the final nail in the coffin of the EU’s Northern Ireland Protocol

The EU consistently says that it is acting “to protect the integrity of the Single Market”. Utter nonsense, as we shall prove in our final report. Can you help us by sponsoring this series? We badly need funding to continue. We are a 'not for profit' team (we make a loss) and any donation goes towards the actual work, not plush London offices, lunch or taxi expenses, or other luxuries of some organisations. Nor do we ask you for further donations if you donate once - we just hope that you keep supporting us.

Yes, 'ordinary people' CAN make a difference

Many people like you, our readers, have expressed their profound concerns about the current state of democracy and the direction where this great country of ours is headed. Brexit Facts4EU.Org continues to work behind the scenes - in addition to what you read on our website and in social media - to pressure the Government and MPs.

It has always been everyday people like you who made it possible for Facts4EU.Org to exist and to provide this service. We present facts-based research that most of the MSM fails to provide, and through that give a voice to a more common-sense approach that is shared and sought by so many people, still not being heard as it often differs from the 'party line' or 'right thing to say'.

Yes, you can do something and we hope you will. Please help us out with a donation today, so we can keep fighting for a free, truly independent, and sovereign United Kingdom and research and publish facts presented in a way you won't see anywhere else.

We do not have corporate funders, which makes our monthly planning more difficult, but it means we are not directed by a confined number of donors. We only take directions from our widespread readership - most of you very well informed - by listening to things you say.

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[ Sources: UK Parliament ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Sun 13 Jun 2021

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Reader Comments 9

1. Rory , Sunday, June 13, 2021, 07:30:

Please please please get this to your parliamentary contacts and to the world at large.

2. Diane , Sunday, June 13, 2021, 09:36:

Would second that ! And also the legal opinions / facts published recently too ( Martin Howe QC - there is also more of his valued wisdom since the Referendum to be found on line too & the Briefings For Britain website has good articles & opinion pieces as extra background if you search ) Also, is it really the case, as is being reported and indeed mentioned by the PM specifically in one of his short interviews with a journalist yesterday, that at least one of those invited EU individuals within the G7 forum really was confused about the fact that Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, UK territory and all that that entails..... ?? Re the NIP - the UK side considers that much of this is about interpretation rather than demands for renegotiation which is the EU's consistent accusation. It's certainly about maintaining the UK's integrity but do any of these powers that be, and I include many of our own and some of our MPs, really have a true grasp of these issues and the complexities and subtleties within the various agreements. I think not. Most of us voters know how we got to this situation, in great detail unfortunately, and which we'd rather forget but the thrust now, like vultures circling, is to get the UK back into the EU's regulatory orbit, pressured as we are re a possible veterinary agreement for example & some realignment and thus a push to get the UK more than half in again. A stitch up for the future.

3. One eyed king , Sunday, June 13, 2021, 09:40:

44 years I have walked among you, though I am not one of you. Unfortunately I was born with an organic quotient which separates me, for I see too much and realised early to hide in plain sight through the education system, one caveat, would be a fine educator Mr Hilton Spratt whom I respect to this day. Although personal tragedy separated me from his tutorial. The world is black and white to me, and webs of correlation weave their way through my mind leading me back to the point that humans are failing in almost all areas. Pull on certain strings and you fall from grace all to readily, pushing the line that 'this is how it is' I consider that it is how we allow it to be. I am unsure what motivates me to write this now perhaps a sense of urgency as the cages are closing and many of you do not deserve it so. Perhaps because I left with my children to refuse the system even more captives. Though my heart belongs to England my head drew the conclusion that the fear the politico were feeling would lead to oppression and I was correct. They have failed you and yours, unless you are part of their elite. There is more to come, they have forgotten the lessons from history and will repeat them. We the people of this sceptered isle have given so much to the progression of humanity and would continue to do so if this bloated government were cut down to size and served us. Stand for the light and I will be there with you. Long live freedom, long live the free

4. Ian Mitchell , Sunday, June 13, 2021, 11:02:

The most important fact about the EU, which the Europhiliac class in Ireland, Scotland, Britain and on the Continent fails to understand, is that the European Court of Justice, which is the summit if the EU legal tree, is NOT A COURT OF LAW - It is a court of PURPOSE. The whole enterprise is, at its pseudo-legal heart, a lawyerly fraud.
The purpose of the ECJ is to promote European integration (as expressed in the Treaty of Rome). It deliberately interprets any doubtful question in the direction of what will secure closer integration. It is not an independent court at all, but an administrative organ disguised as a court. The purpose of getting out of Europe should be to get away from its droit administratif. The price of Brexit is worth paying if it protects the rule of law.
This is a critical fact presented by Prof. Peter Lindseth in his entry in the Oxford Handbook of European Legal History. You can watch a short video explaining this point and quoting extensively from Prof. Lindseth's essay at this link: https://www.youtube.com/wat...
You can also read the background to the difference between Eruopean law more generally and the Anglo-American tradition in this book: "THE JUSTICE FACTORY: CAN THE RULE OF LAW SURVIVE IN 21st CENTURY SCOTLAND?" (Ian Mitchell, 2020)
The book is not a party-political screed. It has been endorsed by both ends of the political spectrum here: Ian ("Stone of Destiny") Hamilton QC, the renegade nationalist, and Adam Tomkins, who is both an MSP (Tory) and Professor of Constitutional Law in the University of Glasgow. The Foreword is written by Lord Hope of Craighead, ex-Deputy President of the UK Supreme Court and Alan Page, Professor of Public Law at Dundee, who is the author “Constitutional Law of Scotland”, the main reference work, has written an Introduction to Part II.

5. William Davison , Sunday, June 13, 2021, 15:46:

This is all true and it was obvious from 2016 onwards what the EU and the Irish government were up to : they would use the artificially got-up issue of the Irish land border to allow the EU to effectively annex N.Ireland, semi-partition the U.K. and demolish the Good Friday Agreement. Indeed, the only way the Protocol could be established was by destroying one of the key foundational pillars of the GFA and by removing the principle of consent inherent in it. Unfortunately for us poor saps in Northern Ireland the only people who didn't seem to realise what was going on were successive U.K. Prime Ministers, namely Theresa May and Boris Johnson, who allowed it to happen with no push-back whatsoever. I must admit I uttered a hollow laugh when I heard Mr Johnson say at P.M.'s questions last week that his priority in relation to the Protocol was now to preserve the territorial and economic integrity of the U.K.. Well, why didn't he do that at the end of 2019? All he had to do was cite the fact that the GFA forbade any such arrangement. My goodness the E.U. and Irish government must have been surprised and delighted that they faced such a pushover, such a prize chump on the other side of the negotiating table.

6. Captain thunderbolt , Monday, June 14, 2021, 00:02:

This whole thing stems from the bad deal put together by the remain/BRINO of Therese’s May. From the get go after PM May fall from grace is whoever tried to get the Brexit over the line was doomed to fail, time was not on Johnson’s side nor was the hostile UK parliament trying every thing to stop the UK from leaving.
Once Johnson had gotten his victory and the next GE he should have turned the tables on the EU and put that WA/NIP to a referendum which would have put the WA to its death, the EU then would have had to make a decision continue to make a trade deal or not and I tell you the EU had more to lose than the UK
The deal is rotten to the core and should never have past a UK parliament in any form, the only thing the WA should have been about was as the name implies a withdrawal of a sovereign nation from a trade block the only the the UK was on the hook for was the current budget at the time and future pensions that’s the only thing that should have been discussed, everything else was for a new agreement after the withdrawal

7. Jon, Wales , Monday, June 14, 2021, 01:38:

This series of articles from Brexit Facts4EU.Org SHOULD be required reading for all UK MP's.
Those MP's we elect are required to make an OATH when entering the Commons.
Perhaps we're again fighting a UK PM, remain parliament, civil service, main stream media, and other outside influences?
-
I challenge UK Prime Minister Johnson to PUSH BACK against the EU whom are trying to destroy our country because they didn't like the outcome of our UK-wide 2016 referendum.
In terms Prime Minister's will understand, the EU commission are hell-bent on trying to control EVERY aspect of our lives even now, despite the largest ever democratic exercise in British history.
IF PM JOHNSON WON'T STAND UP FOR OUR COUNTRY, HE SHOULD BE OUSTED FROM OFFICE WITHOUT DELAY?
-
This reader has HAD ENOUGH of persistent delays first started by ex-PM Mrs May (whom was a Brexit PM after the resignation of Mr Cameron). Mrs May quietly appeased the EU, and everything she gave away during her premiership, was an affront to British democracy.
Take NI for example - Mrs May [then PM] did say at the Despatch Box that NO BRITISH PRIME MINISTER could ever sign such an agreement which carved up our country (not her exact words).
The sovereign UK Parliament dumped her agreement no less than three times.
The electorate corrected matters by kicking out MP's daring to go against a democratic majority, including the removal of then PM May.
-
Enter Boris, with a bad hand of cards to play, yet Boris STILL doesn't realise the majority may back him so long as he defends United Kingdom Integrity - which includes NI.
For the EU commission to tell the UK [a sovereign country] how it may trade within our own borders IS A STEP TOO FAR?
The elitists on the continent of Europe would do well to remember how they regained their freedoms in the first place?
PRIME MINISTER JOHNSON, TELL THE COMMISSION TO TAKE A RUNNING JUMP OFF A SHORT PLANK?

8. Not4EU, London , Monday, June 14, 2021, 06:52:

Russia was kicked out of the G8 because of its annexation of Crimea. The EU, plus its constituent representatives of France, Germany & Italy have had no such sanctions despite the attempted & almost complete annexation of N. Ireland.
The EU is officially only 'an observer' at these country gatherings, like many of the other globalist organisations that attend. Why then, are they sitting at the table, thus active participants, as well as muscling in on official photographs? Why do they need two representatives? Either they replace France, Germany & Italy or they revert to observers.

9. Mary H , Tuesday, June 15, 2021, 09:51:

I posted a link to this article, yesterday, and Facebook has marked it as 'SPAM'!! 😲

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