Boris Johnson says leaked document ‘wrong’ about Irish Sea customs checks
Boris Johnson has rejected claims that his Brexit deal would cause new customs checks on goods travelling between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, but conceded they would apply to products bound for the Republic of Ireland.
The PM’s Brexit deal would see Northern Ireland remain in the UK’s customs territory but abide by EU rules to avoid customs infrastructure at its border with the Republic.
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Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn revealed a leaked Treasury document on Friday that suggested there would be new checks that could be “highly disruptive” to Northern Ireland’s economy.
However, the Prime Minister told Sky News this morning that the document was “wrong”. He said: “There’s no question of there being checks on goods going NI-GB or GB-NI” because “we’re part of the same customs territory”.
Yet Johnson admitted: “The only checks that there would be, would be if something was coming from GB via Northern Ireland and was going on to the Republic.”
The PM’s denial of new checks between Britain and Northern Ireland contradicted Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay, who in October said some “interventions” would be required.
Barclay said that “some information will be needed on goods moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland” to ensure they comply with EU rules, as the Brexit deal stipulates.
When asked by Sky’s Sophy Ridge if Barclay and the leaked document was wrong, Johnson said: “Yes”.
“We’re a UK government, why would we put checks on goods going from NI to GB or GB to NI?” he said.
He said the key issue of avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland would be achieved “by having some checks on goods that might be preceding into the Republic”.
Yet critics have said it would be hard to know where the goods are destined for.
Johnson also committed to reducing immigration after Brexit. “Numbers will come down because we’ll be able to control the system in that way,” he said.
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Addressed criticisms of his proposed points-based border system, which facilitates high levels of immigration in Australia, he said: “It depends how you apply it.”
Speaking on the same programme, Labour shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth said Johnson was “misleading the British people” as he would hand over visa decisions to an independent committee.