WATCH Boris Johnson ridiculed after comparing Irish border to the one between Camden and Westminster
4 min read
Boris Johnson has come in for fierce criticism after comparing the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic to the boundary between the London boroughs of Camden and Westminster.
The Foreign Secretary argued that technological fixes could "obviate the need for a hard border" in Ireland in the same way his administration collected the congestion charge when he was Mayor of London.
His remarks were immediately seized on by pro-Europeans, with former minister Lord Adonis saying he "isn't fit for public office" and MP David Lammy accusing him of "wilful recklessness".
The Government has pledged to keep continued "regulatory alignment" on the island of Ireland, but has yet to set out how it plans to achieve a frictionless border.
Reports today suggest the EU will press the issue in its draft divorce agreement by suggesting Northern Ireland effectively remains in the customs union - a position fiercely opposed by unionist politicians and eurosceptic MPs.
Appearing on Radio Four's Today programme this morning, Mr Johnson suggested a "smart border" solution would mean no need for a hard border.
"Let me assure you we think we can have very efficient facilitation systems to make sure there is no need for a hard border, excessive checks at the frontier between Northern Ireland and the Republic," he said.
"And, you know...there's no border between Camden and Westminster, but when I was Mayor of London we anaesthetically and invisibly took hundreds of millions of pounds from the accounts of people travelling between those two boroughs without any need for border checks."
Challenged on comparing London boroughs to a national border, he insisted: "I think it's a very relevant comparison.
"Because there's all sorts of scope for pre-booking, electronic checks to obviate the need for a hard border, take back control of our trade policy and do trade deals."
His remarks were met with disbelief from Remain-backing figures.
Labour MP Chris Leslie said the Foreign Secretary had shown he "simply doesn’t understand" the Irish border issue.
In a statement on behalf of the pro-EU campaign Open Britain, he said: “To compare the border between two sovereign states, the UK and the Republic of Ireland, to the boundaries between different London boroughs is not only patently ridiculous but also shows staggering insensitivity and a stupefying ignorance of a conflict in which over 3,000 people died between 1969 and the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.
“Boris Johnson's tenure as Foreign Secretary and Brexit cheerleader shows he has the reverse Midas touch: everything he touches turns to muck.”
And Labour MP Chuka Umunna said the gaffe showed he was simply "not fit for office".
'CYNICAL, SHAMELESS' CORBYN
Mr Johnson also turned his fire on Jeremy Corbyn, accusing the Labour leader of letting down Leave voters by pledging to keep the UK in a customs union after Brexit.
"I think it is incredible that Jeremy Corbyn has done this U-turn, a completely cynical, shameless U-turn," he said.
"He campaigned on a manifesto to stay in the customs union [sic], he now suspects, he's sensed that there is this Commons vote coming up and he thinks there's an opportunity to confound the Government...
"He has decided absolutely cynically in my view to betray those who voted for him on the assumption that he was going to deliver Brexit.
"You can't stay in the customs union and say that you're coming out of the EU; the EU is the customs union.
"He would be effectively saying that the Brussels Commission could continue to control our commercial policy, our trade policy, to oblige us to collect tariffs at our frontiers over which we would have no control."
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