Irish immigration controversy: The UK's former Brexit chief accuses Ireland of 'doublethink' and Rishi Sunak of 'missing the point' as he likens their take on the Irish border to Schrodinger's Cat

Lord Frost (who has held a number of ministerial posts relating to Europe, including Chief Brexit Negotiator from July 2019 to January 2020) said that the Irish government’s fresh focus on cross-border immigration is at odds with its oft-repeated post-Brexit refrain that the Irish border must stay as open as possible.

He also accused the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of missing the point in his response to the issue when he repeated what was essentially the same long-touted Irish government position: that there should be no infrastructure at all at the border.

The whole saga began last week when the Irish justice minister announced, having been asked about the origin of asylum seekers in the Republic, that “a significant proportion of people are coming through the border now … I would say higher than 80%”.

This is disputed by the DUP, with Ian Paisley saying the figure has been “made up” as a way of blaming “the bad old Brits” for Dublin’s own mismanagement of immigration.

However, it also emerged this week that the Irish government has freed up some 100 gardai to help with deportations, with reports that a number of them are being redeployed to the border.

Rishi Sunak said this is evidence that his Rwanda plan is having a “deterrent” effect (that is, his policy of deporting a small minority of those who arrive illegally to the UK and then claim asylum to the east African nation, with no right to come back to the UK again).

At the same time, Mr Sunak also sought assurances from the Irish government “that there will be no disruption or police checkpoints at or near the border”.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph last night, Lord Frost suggested both governments’ approaches were flawed.

He said that nationalists often deny the “objective legal reality” that there is a border on the island, adding that “such doublethink is evident in the Irish government’s handling of the current migration row with Britain”.

At times both London and Dublin have found themselves in denial about the fact that there is a real boundary between the two separate jurisdictions on the island – a denial something he mockingly termed “Schrödinger’s border”, a reference to the quantum physics conundrum of “Schrödinger’s Cat” in which the hypothetical animal manages to be both alive and dead simultaneously.

Having now heaped “blame” on the UK for Ireland’s asylum seeker headaches, the Dublin government must now “try to control movement of asylum seekers south across the border, while maintaining their long-standing position that there must be no controls at that border,” wrote Lord Frost, adding: “Not surprisingly, this is hard to carry off.”

Lord Frost went on to say in his Telegraph piece: “In responding to this latest crisis, the British government, from the Prime Minister down, has chosen to enjoy the turned tables and lecture the Irish about the value of maintaining an open border.

"Irish self-righteousness makes this totally understandable, but it still misses the point. It is a feel-good tactic not an actual strategy.”

He questioned how it can “possibly be in our interests now to be arguing for an open border, when Irish and EU demands for this have caused so much damage to our interests?” and wondered what the UK government’s response would be if the tables were turned and asylum seekers were reported to be flowing mainly south-to-north across the border.