Would the open border policy come to an end within Britain and Ireland if there was no longer a UK?

5 comments

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2. It would depend on the manner of the break up of the UK and if the new states that replace it, Ireland and Northern Ireland all agreed to maintain it.

3. I hope not. If Scotland and Wales declare independence, I don’t think there would be any appetite for a hard border between them and England. So hopefully that means they’d also want to keep the open border with Ireland.

   Also if Northern Ireland were absorbed into the republic, there would be a significant number of people with ties to the UK and they would probably put pressure on to keep the border open. Making them go through border controls to get to travel between Britain and Ireland wouldn’t go down well.

4. No one knows what it would look like until it happens.

   The only two things I could guess with any certainty is that

   1) No one wants a hard border.

   2) Make **and keeping** any sort of agreement between bordering countries is incredibly difficult.

5. Unlikely. It’s called the common travel area and I imagine an independent Scotland would want to sign up to it as well