A former director of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has made fun of Iain Duncan Smith for his “pie in the sky” Brexit plan.
Pascal Lamy, who led the body between 2005 and 2013, said customs checks would be needed between the UK and the EU if Britain left the single market and customs union as planned.
In an exchange on the BBC’s Politics Live programme on Monday, Duncan Smith argued “technology now means the idea of barriers and borders is long gone”.
The former Tory leader has said there are “alternative arrangements” to backstop that could be implemented to avoid the need for a hard border in Northern Ireland.
But Lamy dismissed the claim, emphasising his point by whirling his hand around in the air and rolling his eyes.
“I was director general of the World Trade Organisation for eight years, which has something to do with customs procedures. And this notion that exiting the internal market implies no border is pie in the sky. There is no way you can exit the internal market without a border,” he said.
Talks between the government and Labour aimed at breaking the Brexit deadlock will continue today with both parties facing internal pressures ahead of European elections.
Tories fear the May 23 poll could result in an electoral mauling for Theresa May if she has not been able to deliver the Brexit that Britons voted for almost three years ago.