EU summit: Hain and Murphy Irish border Brexit warning

Paul Murphy (left) and Peter Hain say keeping the Irish border invisible is vital

Wales' former Northern Ireland secretaries have raised concerns about the failure of the Brexit talks to reach agreement on the Irish border.

Lord Hain said no Irish border deal would "drive a knife into the heart of the peace process in Northern Ireland".

He and Lord Murphy spoke to BBC Wales ahead of a two-day summit of EU leaders in Brussels.

Downing Street says it wants a check-free border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic post-Brexit.

• No 10 still 'confident' of Irish border deal

• Q&A: Brexit and the Irish border

The EU agrees there should be no hardening of the Irish border but is at odds on how to achieve it.

Negotiators in Brussels say Theresa May's promise of no hard border is incompatible with her aim of leaving the EU's customs union and single market whilst also avoiding a border in the Irish sea between Wales, England and Scotland on the one side and the island of Ireland on the other.

Ireland's Foreign Minister Simon Coveney warned in April there would be "difficulties" in the Brexit process if substantial progress was not made on the Irish border issue by this week's EU summit.

But the UK government's Brexit secretary downplayed the prospect of a breakthrough, saying it was an "artificial deadline".

Finding a solution for the Irish border is a major sticking point in the Brexit talks

The negotiators disagree over the so-called Irish backstop or safety net proposal.

The UK's fall-back plan would see the whole of the UK matching EU customs if a trade deal is not reached by 2021, whereas the EU's backstop option would see only Northern Ireland staying in the EU customs union.

"I think we will get crisis upon crisis until eventually the [UK] government stares over the cliff and either faces Britain crashing out with a terrible impact on Welsh jobs like Airbus… or coming to a sensible arrangement which replicates exactly the same single market and customs union trading deal that we have now - not just for Wales but to keep the Irish border open as well," said Labour's Lord Hain.

The former Welsh and Northern Irish secretary said "something has to give in London" for agreement to be reached.

'Catastrophic blow'

The former leader of Welsh Labour's pro-EU campaign during the referendum added: "The Irish border is absolutely crucial to the guarantee the Good Friday Agreement provided of peace and progress on the island of Ireland and no return to the horror of the past.

"It's important because it's an invisible border.

"To impede that in any way will drive a knife right into the heart of the peace process in Northern Ireland.

"That is the most important issue in my mind on the whole of this Brexit agenda.

"If we risked a return to the horror of the past, even in a more diluted fashion than it once was, if we risk that, then I think that will be a catastrophic blow - not just to the people of the island of Ireland but to Britain's future. And for Wales to be just across the sea, to be facing that again, would be awful.

Fellow Welsh Labour member of the House of Lords and former MP, Lord Murphy, said: "I just think they've got to really start engaging in very serious talks between the Irish and the British governments because although technically this is a negotiation between the EU and the UK the people who know about that border best are those people who live in Ireland.

"So there should be a really detailed negotiation between the Irish government and the British government in the absence of a Northern Ireland executive at the moment to try and look at the practicalities.

"It really seems to me to be a hugely difficult issue and if it's not resolved then there are all sorts of problems - not simply economic ones but political ones as well which need to be resolved.

"Whether people have thought enough about this, I don't think they have to be honest and now it's coming to a head they'd better start getting their act together on this one," he added.