Government members at senior level have rejected claims from UK prime minister Boris Johnson that the EU is seeking to impose a blockade in the Irish Sea after Brexit.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said another of Mr Johnson’s claims – that he needed to dismantle parts of the withdrawal agreement he reached with the EU in order to “stop a foreign power from breaking up” the UK – were “not the case and he knows well that’s not the case”.

Mr Johnson wrote in the Daily Telegraph on Saturday that the EU was threatening to impose a food “blockade” in the Irish Sea that would destroy the “economic and territorial integrity of the UK”.

This was a reference to the need for the UK to outline its future food standards regime to the EU before being granted permission to export to the bloc.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney dismissed Mr Johnson’s claims as “totally bogus” and “absolutely not true”. He said the UK was damaging its international reputation and he criticised as “spin” Mr Johnson’s claim about a blockade between Britain and Northern Ireland.

Further reading from the Irish Times here.