What is really going on in politics? Get our daily email briefing straight to your inbox Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Boris Johnson has been accused of not understanding his own Brexit deal after he gave a rambling and incoherent speech on the election trail.

The Prime Minister was caught on camera praising key elements of EU membership - including freedom of movement and access to the single market - to a group of Conservatives in Northern Ireland.

Critics of the PM's deal have asked why the rest of the UK will not have these privileges if Mr Johnson thinks they are such a bonus.

The Prime Minister was also savaged for misleading his audience about tariffs.

Under the Prime Minister’s deal, firms moving goods west from Britain to Northern Ireland will have to fill out two customs forms. And EU customs rules will then apply to some of those goods - if they're deemed "at risk" of moving into the EU later on.

Yet Johnson contradicted that by saying: “There will not be tariffs or checks on goods coming from GB to NI that are not going on to Ireland.” This is untrue.

Johnson also said there will be "no checks" at all on goods going the other way, from Northern Ireland to Great Britain. Yet his own Brexit Secretary has previously told MPs: "Exit summary declarations will be required in terms of NI to GB."

Labour's Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer, the Shadow Brexit Secretary, slammed the prime minister for the comments, which he said showed a lack of understanding over his Brexit deal.

(Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

He said: " Boris Johnson either doesn’t understand the deal he has negotiated or he isn’t telling the truth. Probably both."

Under the Prime Minister's deal there will need to be customs checks on goods going from the UK into the EU.

But to avoid checks on the 310-mile border between Northern Ireland and the Republic these will happen when goods from Great Britain arrive in Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland and the Republic would share some EU single market rules - forcing checks on manufactured and agricultural products crossing the Irish Sea.

In an incoherent and rambling speech last night Mr Johnson said: "When you come out of the EU Customs Union which is what we've done you have to have some way of checking that goods going from the United Kingdom into Ireland that might attract a tariff pay that tariff if there is to be a tariff.

(Image: REUTERS)

"The only place you can do it if you don't do it at the border is at the border in Northern Ireland.

"There will not be tariffs or checks on goods coming from GB to NI that are not going on to Ireland - that's the whole point.

"And the great thing that has been misunderstood about this is there will not be checks - I speak as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and a passionate unionist - there will not be checks on goods going from Northern Ireland to Great Britain because we're the government of the United Kingdom and we will not institute or implement or enact such checks."

Boris Johnson's Brexit deal explained Boris Johnson finally agreed a Brexit deal with the EU on 17 October 2019, though it still needs approval by MPs and is now on ice. The 64-page list of amendments keeps a transition period up to 31 December 2020 and the £39bn divorce bill. But it scraps the Irish backstop, an insurance policy designed at preventing a hard border between Northern Ireland the Republic. In the backstop's place would effectively be 'two borders' in a hybrid system: Northern Ireland and Britain would share a legal customs territory - technically forcing customs checks on goods crossing the 310-mile border with the Republic. But in practice, to avoid checks at the border, the checks will instead happen when goods reach Northern Ireland on the island of Ireland. Critics say this puts a customs border across the Irish Sea - more of this below. Northern Ireland and the Republic would share some EU single market rules - forcing checks on manufactured and agricultural products crossing the Irish Sea. The Northern Ireland Assembly - known as Stormont - will get a vote every four years on whether to let EU law continue. But this vote could be passed by a simple majority - denying the DUP a veto on staying under EU laws long-term. Meanwhile commitments on workers' rights are deprioritised - moved to the non-legally-binding Political Declaration for agreement later. For a full explainer click here.

He continued: "Actually Northern Ireland has got a great deal you keep freedom of movement, you keep access to the single market but you also have - as it says in the deal - unfettered access to GB.

The anti-Brexit Liberal Democrats seized on the Prime Minister's comments as an admission that the rest of the UK is getting a worse lot than Northern Ireland under his deal.

Liberal Democrat Shadow Brexit Secretary Tom Brake said: “The Single Market and freedom of movement are a great deal – even Boris Johnson recognises this - so why isn’t he keeping them for the whole of the UK as part of the many benefits of EU membership?

“It is clear that the best deal for the UK is the one we have now: in the EU.

“That is why a Liberal Democrat government will revoke Article 50 on day one. It’s time to Stop Brexit and build a brighter future.”