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20 November 2018updated 05 Oct 2023 8:22am

“I go to my house in France all the time”: Brexiteer Peter Lilley on border checks

Never mind the Irish border, eh.

By Media Mole

More hypocrisy this morning from a “leading” Brexiteer (if leading means up the garden path), as Tory peer Peter Lilley defends potential border checks in the case of a Canada-style deal with the example of his “house in France”.

Having been told on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme by their fact-checker that the single market and customs union provide “entirely frictionless trade” in the way “the government wants”, and that a “free trade agreement would not entirely bring in”, Lilley raged in response.

“I’m sorry, even that is untrue!” he spluttered. “At present, there are checks at the border. I’ve got a house in France, I go back and forward all the time and I see them being checked.”

Unable to argue against the fact that a Canada-style free trade arrangement would of course bring far more checks, infrastructure and bureaucracy at the border, Lilley was essentially defending increasing the barriers to access his holiday home. Hmm.

Never mind the Good Friday Agreement, business investment and the economy eh? A lord reckons he’ll be able to continue going “back and forward all the time” to his property overseas without being bothered by increasing border checks.

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