Corbyn’s new ‘conspiracy theory’ over border checks

JEREMY Corbyn was accused of spreading ‘conspiracy theories’ again yesterday after he claimed leaked documents showed Boris Johnson had lied about his Brexit deal.

Holding a press conference in London, Mr Corbyn said the files drove ‘ a coach and horses’ through the Prime Minister’s insistence that there would be no border in the Irish Sea.

‘What we have here is a confidential report by Johnson’s own government – marked “official, sensitive” – that exposes the falsehoods that [he] has been putting forward,’ he added.

Mr Corbyn highlighted one section of the Treasury analysis which states: ‘ There will be customs declarations and security checks between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.’ The files say these ‘will be highly disruptive to the NI economy’, adding that ‘key employment sectors... are likely to be hit’.

The Conservatives insisted the document was a ‘flash’ assessment of Mr Johnson’s deal, and did not represent a final analysis. They said it had not been seen by Mr Johnson or the Chancellor, Sajid Javid.

The Prime Minister said the Labour leader’s claims were ‘total nonsense’, adding: ‘With the deal that we have, we can come out as one whole UK.’

Tory chairman James Cleverly said: ‘Once again, Jeremy Corbyn is brandishing leaked documents that don’t back up his wild conspiracy theories.’ He claimed the Labour leader’s press conference was ‘another desperate attempt’ to ‘distract from his refusal to take a position’ on Brexit.

It came little over a week after Mr Corbyn held a similar event to claim the Government was ready to include the NHS in a US trade deal. This was swiftly rejected by Donald Trump and Trade Secretary Liz Truss, who said: ‘Jeremy Corbyn... has always believed in conspiracy theories – which is why he has failed to crack down on anti-Semitism.’