THE Prime Minister has said customs checks on the island of Ireland are "just the reality" of Brexit

Late last night, reports of his plans for the Irish border after Brexit emerged. These suggested the UK had sent the EU a plan in which customs posts would be built along both sides of the border to replace the backstop.

Irish state broadcaster RTE suggested these posts would be positioned about five to 10 miles back from the border itself.

But this morning, Boris Johnson said those were just preliminary ideas which had been floated, not formal plans. He added these will be set out later in the week once the Tory Party conference has finished.

READ MORE: Brexit: EU insists on ‘fully workable’ solution to Irish border

Johnson told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "That is not what we are proposing at all."

He added: "A sovereign united country must have a single customs territory."

He did not give further details but denied this would mean a hard border on the island of Ireland.

This morning, the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg tweeted: "Understand legal text of Brexit proposals that will be put to EU does not say checks should take place 5-10 miles from Irish border - and does not give specific distances about where checks should take place".

Johnson's comments on the leaked proposals came as deputy Irish premier Simon Coveney rejected the suggestions, saying Northern Ireland and Ireland "deserve better".