London: Britain will seek a series of waivers for goods and people crossing the Northern Ireland border under new plans that risk creating a "backdoor" with the European Union after Brexit.
The government aims to avoid the need for border posts with Ireland when the UK leaves the EU, an ambitious goal seen as essential to preserving the Good Friday peace agreement.
Details of the plan Whitehall officials unveiled on Wednesday have, however, sparked a series of difficult questions about what the knock-on impact of having no border might be for wider EU-UK relations.
When Brexit talks resume in two weeks, Britain will ask for an exemption for all small traders and farmers from a host of customs, agricultural and food safety checks. In return, it aims to seek "regulatory equivalence" with the EU to try to avoid the need for inspections of live animals and billions of pounds worth of other goods crossing back and forth. Officials refused to speculate what consequences this might have for limiting the scope of trade agreements with non-compliant countries such as the US. Without matching regulations, the EU could block imports however, fearing that the open border is a backdoor into its consumer market.
Similar fears of a backdoor in the labour market were put to officials when they revealed that there would be nothing to stop EU economic migrants traveling through the Republic of Ireland into the UK under a continuation of the common travel area scheme. The government believes it can limit the impact of any such undocumented immigration through tighter checks on work permits in the UK.
Officials concede the plan relies on unprecedented trust and co-operation with the EU but say it is worth it to maintain peace and prosperity in Northern Ireland.