Scottish Government's Irish Sea Border post plans premature, according to Secretary of State for Scotland

Secretary of State for Scotland Alistair Jack believes the Scottish Government have moved to quickly in their plans to implement a border post at Stranraer for travel over the Irish Sea.

Officials from the directorate for international trade and investment have revealed the planned £30 million facility will monitor and check goods entering and leaving Scotland via Cairnryan.

Initial work is presently underway involving chartered surveyors and building design specialists to identify a suitable site.

It is believed three locations have already been examined and Officials from Dumfries and Galloway Council are involved in the search.

However MP Alistair Jack believes there is still time to negotiate with the EU to avoid this, stating 'were not anywhere near needing an inland border'.

He said: "HMRC have looked at that, but it’s entirely down to how the protocol is implemented, and those discussions are ongoing with the European Union at the moment.

"There are controls on sanitary goods at the moment at Larne, they have been there for decades. I would like us not to have any border control for other goods on the UK mainland if we can get our interpretation of the protocol agreed with the European Union, who we think are taking a rather purist and stringent approach to it.

"I mean I simply don’t understand why Tesco and other supermarkets can’t move their sausages from mainland Great Britain into Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom.

"That should not be difficult, they’re not going anywhere near the Republic of Ireland and even if they did we have a free trade agreement with the EU, with the Republic of Ireland.

"That’s tariff free and quota free and that’s why it’s very easy to move sausages and other products across the short straits between Kent and France.

"We need to agree the interpretation of the protocol arrangements with the EU before we start spending any money on building projects."

In response a spokesman for the Scottish Government said: "In January the UK Government confirmed checks would be required on EU-origin goods arriving in Great Britain at Cairnryan as a consequence of the hard Brexit deal negotiated by the UK Government.

"The Scottish Government now has to establish facilities in the Loch Ryan area to inspect animals, plants, food and feed - for which responsibility is devolved - arriving in Scotland from the Republic of Ireland and the wider EU via Northern Ireland.

"The UK Government has agreed this facility is required and we have been in regular engagement over its development.

"The Scottish Government is also pressing the UK Government to cover all costs associated with the facility as it is expenditure directly linked to EU Exit."

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