Leo: ‘Britain must change its position on the border’
TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar last night tore into the UK’s lack of progress in Brexit talks ahead of a one-on-one meeting with Theresa May this morning.
While London has been keen to talk up the chances of securing a deal in recent weeks, Mr Varadkar said that Europe and Britain are no closer to reaching an agreement than they were in March.
‘If any sense is being created that any form of significant progress has been made in the last couple of weeks, unfortunately that is not the case,’ Mr Varadkar told reporters at an informal meeting of European leaders in Salzburg.
After meeting with the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, three weeks ago, Britain’s Brexit secretary Dominic Raab said he was ‘stubbornly optimistic’ and ‘as confident as before, if not more’ that a deal would be reached.
The Taoiseach dismissed that idea in what appeared to be an effort to put pressure on prime minister May.
Mr Varadkar appears to be losing patience as he hit out at the progress of the UK so far. Ahead of the bilateral meeting with Mrs May today, he said: ‘We’ve yet to a see a text from the UK government that anyone in the EU finds acceptable – one that actually satisfies what we need, an assurance that there won’t be a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, and that the backstop would apply unless, and until, we’re in a position to negotiate a new trade agreement.
‘The position is really as it was in March. As of now we haven’t made any progress but we’re going to keep working on it.’
While ‘compromise’ was the buzzword being thrown around by most EU leaders in Salzburg, Mr Varadkar took a sterner view. Asked what would happen if the EU does not change its position on the border, he replied: ‘Then the United Kingdom shall have to.’ And he insisted Ireland will be prepared for a no-deal should it come to pass.
‘I don’t think anyone wants to contemplate a no-deal scenario. I don’t believe a no-deal scenario is where we’re heading, but certainly Ireland is prepared for it.
‘We’ve already started the process of hiring hundreds of people to staff our ports and airports. We’ve already started to approve the IT system, the infrastructure that may need to go into place,’ he said.
‘I want to emphasise that’s in the ports and airports for east/west trade. We’re not making any preparations for a hard border.
‘Ireland would very much suffer in a no-deal scenario, we don’t want that to happen. I think the UK would suffer a lot on that as well. That’s why I think we need to redouble our efforts.’
In recent weeks, Mr Barnier has insisted that the backstop controls need not take place on the border or be seen as a border, or have any implications for the constitutional status of Northern Ireland.
Mrs May has rejected this idea, although she insists she stands by the commitment Britain gave that a hard border will not return to the island of Ireland.
Speaking before the dinner, she said: ‘What we cannot accept is seeing Northern Ireland carved away from the UK customs territory because, regardless of where the checks would be, what that would mean would be a challenge to our constitutional and economic integrity.’
Mrs May’s speech will be discussed by the 27 remaining states at their lunch today after the British PM has left.
‘We haven’t made any progress’