Ireland's Deputy Prime Minister has admitted a no-deal Brexit will lead to a hard border with the North - but they can't admit it to voters because it would cause a backlash, a secret recording revealed today.
Simon Coveney forgot his microphone was still on as he spoke to Transport Minister Shane Ross while Theresa May suffered her humbling Commons defeat last night.
He was heard confirming the need for border checks if Britain crashes out of the EU - most likely in the Irish Sea - and said: 'But we can’t get into where they’ll be'.
He added: 'People will start delving into that and all of a sudden we’ll be the government that reintroduced a physical border on the island of Ireland'.
His admission is in stark contrast with Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar's vow not to erect a hard border on the island under any circumstances.
The UK government has always described a hard border as having any kind of physical infrastructure on land or sea between the UK and Ireland, including electronic checks.
Irish Tanaiste Simon Coveney admitted to Transport Minister Shane Ross that a no deal Brexit will lead to a 'physical border' with the North but said they can't admit it
Theresa May was humbled in the Commons and looked dejected as the scale of her defeat by 230 votes was reveale
The Irish ministers' gaffe came as they appeared at a press conference in Dublin where Mr Ross admitted that he 'anticipated' there would be checks on goods moving between the UK and Ireland in the event of no deal.
In a private conversation afterwards Mr Ross asked Mr Coveney: '[On] the border one, should I not have said that?'
Tory backbench ringleader Jacob Rees-Mogg (left), Arlene Foster (centre) and the DUP, and former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson (right) have all vowed to support the government in Wednesday night's confidence vote
His more senior colleague replied: 'Yes, but we can’t get into where they’ll be at this stage. They could be in the sea. But once you start talking about checks anywhere near the border, people will start delving into that and all of a sudden we’ll be the government that reintroduced a physical border on the island of Ireland'.
Shane Ross then said: 'Yeah but I didn’t know what to say', according to the Irish Independent, who said Mr Coveney told them: 'We are not planning to put checks on the
