Control of our own borders was a principle demand of those who campaigned for Brexit, so it would be rank hypocrisy for us to seek to control who can enter another sovereign state (This Brexit plan will divide Britain and Ireland once more, 11 October). As a majority of voters in Northern Ireland voted to remain and are presumably happy for current border arrangements with the Republic to continue, surely the only acceptable solution for controlling entry into the UK is to treat Northern Ireland as a special case and introduce border controls at the entry points between it and the rest of the UK.
Jonathan Wallace
Newcastle upon Tyne
• Increased UK/Irish collaboration makes perfect economic and geographical sense. Just as France has officers at St Pancras, in London, assisting UK counterparts, it makes sense to have UK officers in Dublin assisting their Irish counterparts, and Irish officers at London airports assisting their UK counterparts. There is also a prima facie case for a rail tunnel between Larne and Stranraer linking both parts of the United Kingdom. And such a project would also benefit the island of Ireland as a whole.
John Barstow
Pulborough, West Sussex
• Claims that UK border controls on non-EU migrants to the UK at Irish ports will obviate the need for a “hard” border between the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland do not bear scrutiny. After Brexit, goods flowing across the Irish border will be subject to tariffs and regulation, and without control points at the Irish border on the movement of these goods, a smuggling free-for-all will develop. Only a hard border can ensure that lorryloads of EU goods driven by EU citizens, rolling off the ferries in Dublin, don’t head north unimpeded to cross the “invisible” border. Of course there will have to be a hard border; the movement of goods from the EU to and from a post-Brexit UK requires it.
Alan Wallace
Leeds
• My wife’s relatives who live in New York State in the vicinity of Niagara Falls often cross the border into Canada to visit family or for other reasons. This involves going through border controls once a week or more. The process is expedited for them because on production of a credit-card-sized pass with an identifying chip they can use a designated channel for those with “trusted traveller or visitor” status. Holders are fully vetted. Might not such a scheme help in the present situation following the Brexit vote and especially between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland?
Ben Dixon
Budleigh Salterton, Devon
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