To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what progress has been made on defining the nature of the border between the UK and the Republic of Ireland after the UK leaves the EU; and if he will make a statement.

As made clear in our Position Paper on Northern Ireland and Ireland, published in August, and in the Prime Minister’s Florence speech in September, we remain firmly committed to avoiding a hard border, including no physical infrastructure between Northern Ireland and Ireland. This is a point on which we have remained clear throughout.

In doing so, there can be no border between Great Britain and Northern Ireland or anything that fractures the internal market of the United Kingdom, which benefits Northern Ireland hugely.