European Union citizens will be free to cross into UK from Ireland after Brexit, British Government admits

European Union citizens will be able cross into Britain by simply crossing the Irish border after Brexit, the Government has admitted.

The news will raise fears of a backdoor into Britain after the UK leaves the European Union for migrants from the EU.

Details of the plans are set out in a 28 page paper published by the Department for Exiting the European Union today.

The paper also raises the prospect that Britain will be looking to achieve "regulatory equivalence on agri-food measures, where the UK and the EU agree to the same outcome and high standards, with scope for flexibility in relation to the method for achieving this".

The document makes clear that Britain will not seek to impose a hard border along the 310 mile border between Northern and Southern Ireland.

However officials were unable to say how EU nationals will be able to cross unchallenged into Northern Ireland and into mainland Britain.

One said: “From an immigration control perspective, immigration control has never been about the physical blocking of people at the physical border.”

There are also implications for non-EU nationals with, for example, South African citizens requiring a visa to enter the UK but not the Irish republic.

The official said: “There is not a totally harmonised UK-Ireland immigration system for non-EEA nationals.

“We think the controls that you introduce away from the physical border enable you to meet your different objectives."

The official added: "We were never coming up with UK immigration proposals that would require you to put immigration posts between Northern Ireland and Ireland, or Ireland and GB."

Britain will rely on computers to exchange security information about migrants, while EU citizens would be unlikely to be able to work in Britain without a visa.

The official said: "Access to the [UK] labour market implies its own set of checks."

The official said: “The controls will away from the UK physical border for EEA nationals.”

The proposals also mean that any deal could collapse if Ireland chooses to join the Schengen free movement zone. The official said: "That is a hypothetical. That would be a decision for the Irish Government."

The paper also admits that a bad Brexit deal could damage peace in Northern Ireland. 

It says: "There has long been recognition of the link between political stability in Northern Ireland and economic prosperity."