Lord Lawson '˜hopes Republic will rejoin UK'

A Tory former cabinet minister joked that he hoped the Republic of Ireland would rejoin the UK in response to questions over the future of the border with Northern Ireland in the event of a Brexit.

Lord Lawson, the former chancellor who is now chairman of Vote Leave, suggested he would like to see a reversal of the 1922 creation of the Irish Free State.

His comments came after Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers, a Leave supporter, rejected suggestions that UK withdrawal from the EU would require border checks to be reinstated with the Republic.