BORIS Johnson is wrong to criticise the Government’s new deal with the EU on Brexit, according to Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris.

Asked if he thought Boris Johnson was wrong to question the deal, he told GB News: “I love Boris with a passion. I think he’s one of the greatest politicians we have in our party and he’s got a great role to play in this.

“I had a conversation with him yesterday as well and the beautiful thing about British politics is we don’t always have to agree on this and I’m afraid I don’t think Boris has got it completely right.

“He was saying that we wouldn’t be able to diverge, actually we absolutely will be able to diverge in our standards, and in how we do things as we move forward but there is a lot in the Westminster framework.

“I don’t think people have quite come to terms with how all encompassing this is because it does sort out hopefully forever the issues that we have in the Irish Sea which have meant that a huge amount of GB-made goods have been missing from shelves in Northern Ireland, but that’s just a practical effect.

“But there’s been a problem with VAT, we couldn’t apply VAT changes or duty changes in Northern Ireland. This deal sorts that out.”

Asked about those who say the deal is unsatisfactory, he continued: “There are treaty changes that the European Union have to pass to get the Stormont brake put into law and to do the VAT changes.

“There’s a whole host of EU law that’s disapplied that needs to be done on the European side. The new green lane needs a treaty change and backing on the European side as well.

He added: “This deal now allows for food produced in the United Kingdom to travel freely around the United Kingdom for consumption. It eliminates what was a customs border in the Irish Sea.

“It means there is a whole lot less EU law. There is still 3%, or less probably less than 3%, of EU law that applies to Northern Ireland, but it’s 3% of law.

“That actually is the minimum required by the businesses there that they have asked for, the people that work in Northern Ireland have asked for, to maintain their link into the single market without a north south border on the island of Ireland.

Mr Heaton-Harris added: “This is a deal that goes way way further in sorting out the Northern Ireland protocol than any other previous suggestions and I believe will bring prosperity to Northern Ireland which is good for the Union.”