[Matt Q]

Hi Max,

As I understand it, "no deal" means exactly that: "no deal". We'd leave the EU without any (special) agreements on anything -- trade, travel, air traffic, the Irish border and so on.

The UK government has made plans for what do regarding the Irish border in the event of a no deal Brexit. Which is basically to have a temporary period of, well, doing nothing much different, followed by, well, trying hard to come up with a workable plan later:

“In a no deal scenario, the UK government is committed to entering into discussions urgently with the European Commission and the Irish Government to jointly agree long-term measures to avoid a hard border.”

However, the UK can only plan what it does on its side of the border. So, it says it won't apply tariffs (some small exceptions) or place physical barriers. Whereas Ireland, being in the EU, might be expected to do so, as physical checks and tariffs by EU countries are normally required on borders with non-EU countries. However the Irish government has said that, "its overriding objective is to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland [and] is not planning for customs posts". In the event of a no deal it will "engage in intensive discussions with the EU Commission and our EU partners".

- Matt