Johnson under fire over border idea
Labour accuses Foreign Secretary of ‘recklessness’
Boris Johnson has dismissed concerns that leaving the EU customs union after Brexit could lead to a hard Irish border by suggesting that crossings could be monitored by technology like travel between London boroughs.
His suggestion was dismissed as “willful recklessness” and “unbelievable” by Labour MPs.
BORIS JOHNSON has dismissed concerns that leaving the EU customs union after Brexit could lead to a hard Irish border by suggesting that crossings of the frontier could be monitored by technology like travel between London boroughs.
The Foreign Secretary said “there’s no border between Camden and Westminster” as he suggested that goods crossing between the Republic and Northern Ireland could be subject to electronic checks, in an apparent reference to the congestion charge.
But his suggestion was dismissed as “willful recklessness” and “unbelievable” by Labour MPs.
Mr Johnson also said that the CBI business lobby group and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn were “wrong” to back a customs union with Brussels, as it would leave Britain a “colony” of the EU in a situation that would be the “worst of all worlds”.
Mr Corbyn’s initiative has set the scene for possible defeat for Theresa May at the hands of Tory rebels and Labour in an upcoming Commons vote on the Trade Bill.
But Mr Johnson yesterday said: “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.”
And with the EU set to publish a legal document containing commitments to avoid a hard Irish frontier today, Mr Johnson dismissed the suggestion that leaving the tariff-free customs union would see the erection of border posts on the island.
“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,” he said.
“It’s a very relevant comparison because there’s all sorts of scope for pre-booking, electronic checks, all sorts of things that you can do to obviate the need for a hard border to allow us to come out of the customs union, take back control of our trade policy and do trade deals.”
Responding, Labour antiBrexit MP David Lammy tweeted “God help us all, this isn’t just stupidity and ignorance but wilful recklessness”, while Paul Blomfield said it was “unbelievable”. Mr Johnson’s border comments were mocked by Tottenham Labour MP Mr Lammy, who said on Twitter: “When I was a young boy we were told to stay away from the Troubles on the Caledonian Rd & marching bands in Regent’s Park. The Chalk Farm Peace Agreement has brought peace in our time. People can get the tube from Camden Town to Finsbury Park without being searched at the border.”
Sheffield Labour MP Mr Blomfield said: “Stumbling, bumbling @borisjohnson compares north & south of Ireland with Islington & Camden on @r4Today while trying to explain his frictionless border without a Customs Union. Unbelievable!”
Mr Johnson spoke before International Trade Secretary Liam Fox gave a speech in which he described Mr Corbyn’s plan to stay in the customs union as “a complete sell-out of Britain’s national interests”.
In the latest of the Cabinet’s “road to Brexit” speeches in London, Dr Fox warned Tory rebels that the arrangement would constrain the UK from taking advantage of future trade opportunities and leave the country as “ruletakers” from Brussels.
But his argument was dismissed by the former top civil servant in his department, who said leaving the customs union to strike free trade deals around the world was like “giving up a threecourse meal for the promise of a packet of crisps”. Sir Martin Donnelly, who left his role as permanent secretary at the Department of International Trade last year, said any divergence from Brussels’ rules would deal a blow to British services which would not be compensated for through deals with nations such as the US.
There’s all sorts that you can do to obviate the need for a hard border. Foreign secretary Boris Johnson.
IF MICHAEL Heseltine was still in the Cabinet, Yorkshire would probably have devolution by now. Why? He would not have allowed narrow-minded council leaders or Ministers to put self-interest before the greater good.
This much was selfevident when Lord Heseltine addressed a major conference in Leeds on the Northern Powerhouse as council leaders from the region travelled to London to meet Communities Secretary Sajid Javid and make the case for One Yorkshire.
Time will tell if this region’s leaders have done enough to win the confidence of Mr Javid, who has been circumspect throughout this process, but he – and others – would be well advised to heed Lord Heseltine’s rallying call.
Bemoaning the slow progress on this side of the Pennines compared to the North-West, he was scornful of the “tribal instincts” of certain stakeholders who have yet to embrace the One Yorkshire agenda and believes that this lack of unanimity won’t help the rest of the region win the trust of Ministers.
Yet what makes this intervention so timely is the Tory grandee’s track record. He was the one person in Margaret Thatcher’s first term who recognised the untapped potential of the North’s neglected cities after the Toxteth riots in Liverpool in the early 1980s.
He was the one politician prepared to set up development corporations to provide the necessary leadership to regenerate deprived areas and then begin to advocate the transfer of decision-making powers from Whitehall to the English regions.
And he’s one of the few statesmen genuinely respected by Tory and Labour politicians for his pioneering work which was, in fact, the precursor to the Northern Powerhouse. Now, more than ever, his input will be invaluable to getting One Yorkshire over the line so this region can forge a new industrial revolution set in the digital age.