FILE PHOTO: Owen Paterson leaves Winfield House during U.S. President Donald Trump's state visit in London, Britain, June 4, 2019. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls

LONDON (Reuters) - Brexit supporting Conservative lawmaker Owen Paterson said Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s emerging European Union divorce deal was “absurd” and “unacceptable”, The Sun newspaper reported.

Paterson, who served as Britain’s Northern Ireland minister, said the deal was a rehash of former Prime Minister Theresa May’s failed customs partnership ideas.

“When would any other country ever give up part of its territory as part of trade talks? It would be particularly absurd for Northern Ireland,” The Sun quoted Paterson as saying.

“It would shatter the Belfast Agreement’s Principle of Consent and completely undermine Northern Ireland’s status as an integral part of the UK. We must not go down this route,” he said in an interview.