Owen Smith Will Vote Against Customs Union Solution To Irish Border

31 March 2019, 18:25 | Updated: 31 March 2019, 18:28

Owen Smith says he will not vote for motions that involve a customs union solution to the Irish border issue in the next stage of indicative votes in Parliament.

The Labour MP's comments come as politicians prepare for another series of indicative votes to break the political impasse over leaving the European Union.

Owen Smith told Ian Payne that he didn't previously vote for the customs union in the last round of indicative votes because of fears of a hard border on the island of Ireland.

For me that is an absolute red line, we must whatever we do make sure there isn't a hard border because that would jeopardise the peace process," he said.

"People are forgetting that even if you have a customs union, if you're not in the single market and there's regulatory divergence in the standards of goods and services either side of that border, then eventually you would have to have checks."