Foreign Secretary admits there will be ‘minimal’ Irish border controls post-Brexit

BORIS Johnson has publicly admitted there would be new controls at the Irish border after Brexit but insisted they would be “minimal”.

The Foreign Secretary argued that there was “no need” for a “hard border” as it “will be possible to have very, very minimal controls at the border".

But MPs on all sides of the Brexit debate and in Dublin have demanded that there be no return to any physical border on the island of Ireland when Britain quits the EU next year.

Mr Johnson’s comments echo a memo he wrote to Theresa May that partly leaked last week urging Downing Street to change their language when discussing the thorny to reflect the fact some form of customs checks will be necessary.

Speaking in Central London, Mr Johnson told a private audience that there would be a "state of grace" in Brussels red tape when the UK leaves.

But he insisted Britain would then be able to “diverge” from EU rules whenever we want.

He said: "We will be absolutely flush with their legal order but it will then be open to us to change things."