Boris Johnson faced a backlash today after comparing the Irish border to London’s congestion charge zones as he dismissed EU efforts to keep control over Northern Ireland.
The Foreign Secretary hit back amid signs a legal text drawn up by Brussels will effectively ignore the UK’s side of the divorce deal struck before Christmas.
The draft lays out plans for Northern Ireland to stay ‘fully aligned’ with European laws and regulation, without referring to British proposals for technological solutions and other arrangements to avoid a hard border.
The high-stakes move, said to be driven by an increasingly tough stance in France and Germany, has fueled fears that negotiations could collapse altogether.
Asked about the EU stance this morning, Mr Johnson said: ‘We don’t think that is the right way forward.
‘As you will recall the PM said very clearly in December… that we want a different solution.’
Mr Johnson compared the Irish border to the lines between London boroughs – pointing to the use of camera technology to impose the congestion charge on drivers.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson (pictured in Downing Street today) has dismissed EU efforts to turn the screw in Brexit negotiations by demanding domain over Northern Ireland if Britain leaves the customs union
EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier (pictured in Brussels earlier this month) has adopted an aggressive attitude in the latest stage of the Brexit talks
‘As you will recall the PM said very clearly in December… that we want a different solution.’
Mr Johnson compared the Irish border to the lines between London boroughs – pointing to the use of camera technology to impose the congestion charge on drivers.
‘We think that we can have very efficient facilitation systems to make sure that there’s no need for a hard border, excessive checks at the frontier between Northern Ireland and the Republic,’ he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
‘For people listening, 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 whatever.’
Labour ridiculed Mr Johnson for comparing connections between London boroughs to the Irish border.
Backbencher Chris Leslie said the Foreign Secretary had shown he ‘simply doesn’t understand’ the 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.’
Ex civil servant warns quitting the EU is like swapping a banquet for pack of crisps
Sir Martin Donnelly, the former top civil servant in the International Trade Department, will ridicule his former boss’ plans to quit the EU customs union and single market
The former top civil servant in Liam Fox’s department has warned quitting the EU is like swapping a three-course meal for a packet of crisps.
Sir Martin Donnelly ridiculed his former boss’ plans to quit the EU customs union and single market.
And he warned dire economic consequences could lie ahead for Britain.
His remarks risks overshadowing the International Trade Secretary’s own address later today.
Sir Martin told the BBC’s Today Programme: ‘You’re giving up a three-course meal, which is the depth and intensity of our trade relationships across the European Union and partners now, for the promise of a packet of crisps in the future if we manage to do trade deals outside the European Union which aren’t going to compensate for what we’re giving up.
‘You just have to look at the arithmetic – it doesn’t add up I’m afraid.’
Guy Verhofstadt, the MEP leading for the European Parliament on Brexit, also stirred up the row.
‘It is for us key that that there will be in future, whatever the outcome of the negotiations will be, that there is no divergence in norms, rules, standards between the north and Republic of Ireland,’ he told fellow MEPs today.
‘That is our goal… the best way to solve the problem.’
The PM’s spokesman said: ‘The Foreign Secretary was making a comparison to demonstrate the overall approach.
‘110,000 people cross the border daily and will continue living their lives as before.
‘He was not offering a technical solution.’
During the frenzied divorce talks in December, Theresa May committed to keeping enough alignment with EU rules to avoid a soft border as a ‘backstop’ if no other solution could be found.
But she also vowed to the DUP that there would be ‘no new regulatory barriers’ between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.
In a phone call with Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar last night, Mrs May reiterated her commitment to avoiding a hard border ‘between Northern Ireland and Ireland or between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom’.
‘The PM and the Taoiseach both agreed that it was their preference to achieve this through the overall future relationship between the UK and the EU,’ Downing Street said.
‘The PM advised that she would say more on this future relationship in her speech on Friday.’
In his interview, Mr Johnson also took aim at the CBI business lobby group and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, saying they were ‘wrong’ to back a customs union with Brussels, as it would leave Britain a ‘colony’ of the EU and create the ‘worst of all worlds’.
‘You can’t suck and blow at once, as they say, we’re going to have to come out of the customs union in order to be able to do free trade deals,’ he said.
The Foreign Secretary also gave short shrift to the former top civil servant in the Trade Department.
Sir Martin Donnelly said leaving the EU customs union was like giving up a banquet in favour of a packet of crisps.
Mr Johnson said he disagreed ‘very strongly’ with Sir Martin ‘of the Brussels commission’, arguing that there is an ‘insatiable’ market for UK services outside the EU.
He rejected reports that the EU is set to demand the European Court of Justice is the ultimate arbiter in treaty-related disputes as it would not amount to ‘taking back control’.
The European Commission has deleted the other options from its legal document putting the divorce deal down in writing.
They have also drawn up a last resort option which would see Northern Ireland stay under EU rules and regulations if no free trade deal is done.
Brussels has drawn up a plan to put the post-Brexit customs border in the Irish Sea in a move which sets it on a collision course with Theresa May (pictured in Downing Street yesterday)
Jeremy Corbyn threw Labour’s support behind a customs union in a major speech yesterday
This would mean Northern Ireland could accept the rules of the customs union, single market and continue to be bound by EU courts after Brexit – even while the rest of the UK is not.
The dispute has been intensified by Jeremy Corbyn’s decision to endorse membership of a customs union with the EU after Brexit – encouraging Brussels to think it can force the issue.
The Irish border is one of the trickiest questions abound up in the Brexit negotiations.
Currently the UK and Ireland are both in the EU so there is freedom of movement and goods and no hard border there – which help to underpin the Good Friday Agreement which brokered peace.
There are fears that new customs checks and border guards would reignite sectarian divisions and could spark fresh violence.
Under the divorce bill, Britain promised to maintain a soft border in Northern Ireland to avoid the peace being imperiled.
She promised Northern Ireland would maintain enough alignment with EU rules and regulations so that a hard border can be avoided.
British officials accused the EU of picking and choosing the bits they liked from the divorce deal to put into the treaty.
They see the commission as having a ‘tin-ear’ when it comes to Belfast politics.
WHY DO THE CUSTOMS UNION AND SINGLE MARKET MATTER AND WHAT COULD HAPPEN AFTER BREXIT?
When Britain stays in a custom union with Brussels (the European Commissions headquarters is pictured) is one of the main points of Brexit contention
The customs union and single market have emerged as crucial battlegrounds in the struggle over Brexit.
The customs arrangements could decide the fate of the overall deal – as the UK has already said it will ensure there is no hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.
Here are the main options for what could happen after Britain leaves the bloc.
Staying in the EU single market
A Norway-style arrangement would be the deepest possible without formally staying in the EU.
The single market rules out tariffs, quotas or taxes on trade, and guarantees free movement of goods, services, capital and – controversially – people.
It also seeks to harmonise rules on packaging, safety and standards.
Staying in the EU customs union
The customs union allows EU states to exchange goods without tariffs, and impose common tariffs on imports from outside the bloc.
But they also prevent countries from striking deals outside the union.
Theresa May has repeatedly made clear that the UK will be leaving the customs union.
Forging a new customs union
Some MPs and the Labour leadership have raised the idea of creating a new customs union with the EU.
This could be looser than the existing arrangements, but still allow tariff free trade with the bloc.
However, many Eurosceptics believe it is impossible to be in a union without hampering the UK’s ability to strike trade deals elsewhere.
They also complain that it would mean accepting the EU’s ‘protectionist’ tariffs against other parts of the world in areas like agriculture.
The PM has also ruled out this option.
A customs partnership
Less formal than a union, this proposal would seek to cherry pick the elements that facilitate tariff-free trade – without binding the UK’s hands when it comes to deals with other countries.
One possibility could be keeping the UK and EU connected for trade in goods, but allowing divergence for the services sector.
The partnership option was floated by the government in a position paper last year.
‘Highly streamlined’ customs
This scenario would be a ‘bare minimum’ customs arrangement between the EU and UK.
New technology would be deployed alongside a simple agreement to minimise friction.
But there are fears that this could hit trade, and it is unclear how the system would work with a ‘soft’ Irish border.
Sammy Wilson (file pic) a DUP MP, said the EU ‘chancing its arm’ over alignment would break the terms of the December agreement with the UK