David Davis has conceded that there may have to be some transitional period in the UK’s departure from the EU. However, the Brexit secretary said this would be for the sake of France, Belgium and the Netherlands rather than the UK.

Rejecting claims the UK has softened its hard Brexit position, he told a House of Lords select committee on Tuesday that Britain’s nearest neighbours were not in the same state of preparedness for customs checks and border controls.

Such “practicalities” would force a need for a transition period, rather than a change of government Brexit strategy, he said.



“I believe we can get a free trade negotiation concluded and a customs union agreement concluded in the [Brexit negotiating] period; what will be much more difficult however is to get all the practical implementations that go with it,” he told peers, adding that this was a problem “not so much for us” but for others.

“It will be quite tough to get customs in the right place in two years but it’s doable with a bit of money, but to get the French customs in the same place in two years or the Belgian or the Dutch customs I think will be a different issue, that’s why a transition period [is needed],” Davis said.

His comments echo those from the shipping industry three months ago which raised concerns that other countries did not grasp the scale of the challenge of a hard Brexit.

Evidence also points to a lack of preparedness in the UK, with HMRC admitting earlier this year it was no longer sure it could deliver a new customs declaration system on time. It told the Treasury select committee that the delivery of the new system was in doubt as it faced a fivefold increase in customs checks in a hard Brexit scenario.

Davis also contested claims that he and the chancellor, Philip Hammond, were pushing different Brexit strategies. He said they spoke about the plans weekly and claimed there was not “a cigarette paper” between their positions.



Asked about the vexed question of the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, he also shifted focus. Theresa May has said she wants this to be “frictionless” and “seamless” but so far nobody has arrived at a solution which would allow Ireland to remain within the single market and the customs union and Northern Ireland to be outside it.

Davis said the government was looking at trusted trader schemes, automatic number plate recognition and pre-tagged containers but this work was being delayed by local politics. “That’s one area where technical work has started. That’s slightly been stymied by change of government in Ireland,” he said.

He said the UK was “not near resolution” on how to achieve an invisible border “partly because we’ve got no Northern Ireland executive to deal with, partly because of the change in government in the south”, before observing that no deal on Ireland could be done until a comprehensive free trade agreement with the EU was complete.

Davis skimmed over most issues he was pressed on, blundering on some including a claim that only British citizens could vote in general elections.

He was also quizzed about the number of women on the Brexit negotiating committee, with one peer calling the photograph showing just one woman on the team as “a disgrace”.

Davis said he did not know how many women were on the team and he would write to the committee.