A TORY MP has claimed that he has the right to an Irish passport by virtue of being English during an interview on BBC Radio Ulster.

During an interview with The Nolan Show yesterday, MP for West Leicestershire Andrew Bridgen displayed astounding ignorance over Anglo-Irish relations and the border issue.

When asked by host Stephen Nolan if he understood that people of Northern Ireland will still be allowed to be EU citizens post-Brexit, under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, he replied: "Well, that's the common travel area as well, isn't it? We do have the right to go over to Ireland, don't we? As an English person, I do have the right to go over to Ireland and I believe that I can ask for a passport. Can't I?."

Bridgen made the baffling claim on the same day that the EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier announced that no progress had been made on Brexit talks and that “despite intense efforts, some key issues are still open, including the backstop for IE/NI to avoid a hard border.”

When host Stephen Nolan informed Mr Bridgen that this is "nothing to do with your right as an English person to come over to Ireland", the Conservative member of Parliament replied with another baffling claim.

He said: "We have a reciprocal agreement where I can go to Ireland and ask for an Irish passport and someone from Ireland can come to the UK and ask for a British passport. We have that system. That's the system we have, isn't it?"


ERG member @ABridgen thinks he has the right to an Irish passport by virtue of being English. pic.twitter.com/oLekrvuroT — Property Spotter (@PropertySpot) October 15, 2018

This isn't the first time Mr Bridgen's lack of knowledge on Ireland has been exposed.

Just last month, he was left silenced by RTE Radio 1 host Audrey Carville over the issue of the Irish border.