BREXIT-supporting UK ministers "don't have a clue" about the border issue that continues to dog Theresa May as she tries to broker a deal with Brussels, a senior Republic government source has claimed.
A minister described by the Sunday Independent as "central to the negotiations" between the UK and the EU said Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and fellow Brexiteers in the Government are risking a no-deal Brexit by undermining the talks process.
Mr Johnson was secretly recorded at a Conservative meeting last week describing Irish concerns over the border issue as “pure millennium bug stuff”, and said of the UK’s only land border with the EU: “It’s so small and there are so few firms that actually use that border regularly.”
There are an estimated 208 crossings on the 310 mile-long border, and Mr Johnson has previously been criticised for claiming post-Brexit cross-border travel would be similar to moving between the different boroughs of London.
Referring to the Irish border issue in the recording, the former London mayor added: “It’s just beyond belief that we’re allowing the tail to wag the dog in this way.”
The leaked recording has placed further pressure on the Prime Minister to reign in the hardliners in her cabinet, and the government minister quoted by the Sunday Independent said: "It’s a joke – you have people spouting on, that it’s not a big issue, who probably haven’t stepped foot in one of the counties for 20 years and all they can remember is what they remember from 20 years ago."
Meanwhile, an Irish government source quoted by the same newspaper said Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has instructed his ministers not to publicly attack UK counterparts over Brexit comments.
