Brexit: MLA Steve Aiken fears ‘repackaged backstop’ arrangement for NI

Steve Aiken has said Downing Street is producing a “drip-feed of unworkable proposals” regarding the Irish border post-Brexit.

It comes after the government dismissed reports that it is proposing to install a series of customs posts near both sides of the border to replace the backstop.

RTE reported that the suggestion was sent to the EU by the UK, and would lead to the posts being built between five and 10 miles back from the border.

The proposals have been branded “unacceptable” by the pro-Remain parties in Northern Ireland, who argue that they would in effect lead to a return of a hard border on the island of Ireland.

UUP MLA Mr Aiken also criticised the mooted plans as “unworkable”, adding: “One would wonder whether we are being conditioned to accept a repackaged backstop.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has insisted the leaked proposals were not correct.

“That is not what we are proposing at all,” he told the BBC.

He said it was “absolutely not” true that he wanted to simply move border checks away from the physical border.

But he said it was a “reality” that some checks would be needed to create a “single customs territory” for the UK once it leaves the EU.

However, Labour said the PM’s remarks were at odds with statements made by Brexit Minister James Duddridge in the Commons.

Responding to an urgent question on the matter, Mr Duddridge claimed there is “no intention to have physical checks at the border”, adding that the reports “simply are incorrect”.

Labour MP Stephen Doughty questioned Mr Duddridge on the issue, saying his answers appeared to be incompatible with the prime minister’s.

He said: “The minister said earlier on that there would be no customs checks at the border, which obviously suggests they will be done elsewhere, yet he suggests that what RTE is reporting is untrue.

“He has now just had to correct himself. The prime minister said there would be customs checks in Ireland.

“So who are we to believe in this process?”