Letter: C Davies

Switzerland has an Electronically Verified Digital System. Drivers have smart cards scanned at the checkpoint recording the load, weight of vehicle and number of miles driven. The time taken is reported as a maximum of 2.5 minutes. There are no hard borders with Germany, France, Austria and Italy and the Swiss operate worldwide using the Schengen Agreement. Their EU trade in 2017 reached £100Bn with worldwide business at £425Bn. Each day 2.1Mn people, 1.1Mn cars and 24,000 lorries cross the border points where imported goods are declared in advance by pre-paid documents. Officials state that 95% of the paperwork is above board. The digital frontier costs £639Mn a year, a figure in stark contrast with the £20Bn that H.M.R.C. claimed in an obvious Project Fear initiative. A Swiss customs official has confirmed that, ''it is not necessary to be part of a customs union or single market to have a smoothly working border''. Surely on this basis it is reasonable for the UK to have a similar agreement for Ireland. As usual the E.U. position is biased, whereas it should be pragmatic and fair!