Max fac is back to help solve Irish backstop worries, Downing Street reveals

Theresa May is reviving plans to use technology to prevent a hard border with Ireland in a bid to win support for her under-fire Brexit deal.

The so-called maximum facilitation proposal – dubbed ‘max fac’ – was one of the customs arrangements considered by the Government last year before being dismissed.

It has support among Brexiters such as Boris Johnson as the use of technology to carry out customs checks away from the border would allow the UK to operate its own trade policy on goods.

Critics of ‘max fac’ argue the technology does not exist that would enable a separate customs regime to be maintained without physical infrastructure being installed – something the UK has committed not to do on Northern Ireland’s frontier with the Republic.

The idea has resurfaced as possible backstop solution if a trade deal between the UK and EU is not ready to be implemented by the end of any transition period.

If accepted by Brussels, it could prevent the need for the UK to enter into a customs arrangement with the EU to stop a hard border on the island of Ireland.

The withdrawal agreement – set to be signed off by EU leaders this weekend – talks of “alternative arrangements” being used to avoid a hard border.

Speaking after a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “One possible alternative arrangement could involve technological solutions.”

It is believed May flagged up the option to former cabinet ministers Owen Paterson and Iain Duncan Smith on Monday in a Downing Street meeting aimed at cooling a plot to oust her as leader.

HMRC chief Jon Thompson warned earlier this year that the ‘max fac’ solution could cost businesses up to £20billion a year in additional bureaucracy.