Boris Johnson was seen last night contradicting his own government’s position on how his Brexit Deal will work between Northern Ireland and GB. The video was quickly shared and widely retweeted on social media.
First published in November 2019.
The UK government’s documents come to the opposite position of what Boris Johnson told an embarrassed audience yesterday night at a Northern Ireland Conservatives event when he responded to the question of the former Northern Ireland Conservative Chair Irwin Armstrong about checks, duties and paperwork between NI and GB with his Brexit Deal.
There was confusion on Monday as to whether the checks/forms that will need to be done for goods going from NI to GB would need to be done by firms exporting the other way, from GB to NI. Barclay refused to say.
— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) October 23, 2019
Dexeu confirms to me that they will. So checks in both directions. pic.twitter.com/E51cUwb9lq
Checks are in both directions, NI to GB and GB to NI.
The Prime Minister seemed particularly joyful but slightly out of his depth on the topic when he told the audience:
“When you come out of the EU Customs Union, which is what we’ve done, you have to have some way of checking that goods going from the United Kingdom into Ireland that might attract a tariff pay that tariff if there is to be a tariff.
The only place you can do it, if you don’t do it at the border, is at the border in Northern Ireland.
There will not be tariffs or checks on goods coming from GB to NI that are not going on to Ireland – that’s the whole point.
And the great thing that has been misunderstood about this is... there will not be checks – I speak as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and a passionate unionist – there will not be checks on goods going from Northern Ireland going to the United Kingdom because we’re the government of the United Kingdom and we will not implement or enact such checks.
Actually, Northern Ireland has got a great deal. It’s got a great deal... You keep free movement, you keep access to the single market... But you also have – as it says in the deal – unfettered access to GB.”
Everyone was kept smiling quite nervously.
Watch the video now:
Boris Johnson. / Twitter - @ManufacturingNI
According to Mr Armstrong, the Prime Minister “needed some rehydration after the salt intake” from the visit of a potato crisp factory earlier yesterday.
Boris was completely sober, the glass was water as he had come from a potato crisp factory and needed some rehydration after the salt intake.
— Irwin Armstrong (@armstrong_irwin) November 7, 2019
Just remember: Boris Johnson wants your votes to be Prime Minister for the next five years... If you haven’t already, please register to vote!🔷
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