Boris idea ‘impossible’

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has been accused of offering British people a vision of life outside the European Union that is “intellectually impossible” and “politically unavailable”.

Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem warned the UK could not expect continued unfettered access to European markets after Brexit unless it accepted free movement of labour.

He said that both the UK and the EU would be worse off as a result of the referendum vote to leave, and he accused Mr Johnson presenting arguments about Britain’s future prospects that were “intellectually impossible”.

His comments came after Mr Johnson suggested that the UK still wanted a “dynamic trade relationship” with the EU although it would “probably” have to leave the EU customs union.

Downing Street was quick to play down the remarks, insisting no decisions had been made, while Mr Dijsselbloem said the Foreign Secretary’s comments did not make sense: “To say ‘we could be inside the internal market, keep full access to the internal market, but be outside the customs union’ – this is just impossible, it doesn’t exist,” he said.