Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
BORIS BEING BORDERLINE INSULTING..
Johnson likens Irish frontier to crossing London
POLITICIANS have slammed Boris Johnson for comparing the Irish border to divisions between London boroughs.
The Foreign Secretary’s suggestion that technology was the solution to the frontier question were mocked in political circles in Britain and drew disdain in Dublin and Belfast.
Stephen Donnelly, Fianna Fail’s Brexit spokesman, said: “I lived in Camden and was never stopped crossing the ‘border’ to Islington.
“I had military rifles pointed at me when crossing into Northern Ireland in the 90s. Suggesting these borders are the same is extraordinary.”
Mr Johnson said crossing the border could be solved in the same way technology was used to collect congestion fees between Camden and Westminster when he was London mayor.
SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said he wanted to educate the Foreign Secretary about the border issues. He added: “When Boris Johnson decides to come down from the other planet he clearly inhabits, he should visit the border and see the scale of the challenge we’re facing before making further pronouncements.
“Trivialising the very serious concerns relating to Ireland displays a dangerous ignorance.”
Mr Johnson’s much-criticised analogy came hours after Prime Minister Theresa May and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar spoke on the phone in what will be a vital week in Brexit talks.
The two leaders held discussions as EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier prepares to publish a legal document expected to cement the December deal that should ensure no hard border when the UK leaves Europe.
Under London’s post-brexit trade plan the UK would examine existing rules and decide if it wants to maintain, alter or abandon them in certain areas. Sinn Fein’s Brexit spokesman David Cullinane branded Mr Johnson’s intervention as “silly” and “ignorant”. He said: “He and the hard Brexiteers simply do not want to face up to the reality that any type of Brexit or any type of exit from the Customs Union and the single market for Britain and the North will mean a hardening of the border.”
Mr Johnson has also argued to Ms May there is already a border in Ireland and Britain’s post-brexit task is to prevent it from “becoming significantly harder”. He made the comments in a leaked paper which also argued that even if a hard border were reintroduced, it would still allow 95% of goods to pass without checks.