LONDON — Boris Johnson, the frontrunner for the Tory leadership, said his government would “never” impose checks on the border in Northern Ireland and would not “want” to impose tariffs on goods entering the U.K.
But pressed on what would happen in a no-deal Brexit scenario, the former foreign secretary acknowledged that the U.K.s destiny would not lie entirely in its own hands. “Its not just up to us; its up to the other side as well,” he told the BBCs News at Ten on Monday night. “And there is an element, of course — a very important element — of mutuality and cooperation in this.
“We will be working with our friends and partners to make sure that we have an outcome that is manifestly in the interests of people, of businesses, communities on both sides of the Channel,” he added.
Johnson reiterated his intention to “get Brexit done by October 31st,” whether he had passed a deal through parliament or not. Asked what a no-deal scenario would mean for trade and the Irish border, he said: “In the real world, the U.K. government is never going to impose checks or a hard border of any kind in Northern Ireland. Thats just number one. Number two: in the real world, the U.K. government is not going to want to impose tariffs on goods coming into the U.K.”
That suggests a Johnson government would prioritize keeping consumer prices low over protecting sectors of the domestic economy from international competition in a no-deal scenario. U.K. farmers and parts of the manufacturing sector have warned they are vulnerable to cheap imports if the government lowered tariff barriers to goods from around the world.
But Johnson insisted he would be able to get a deal through parliament because the political landscape had changed since the U.K.s original exit date of March 31. “I think that MPs on both sides of thRead More – Source
