WE’LL GIVE EU BREXIT BOOT WITHOUT A DEAL

Varadkar warns May she has 3 months to find a workable agreement or face backlash

LEO Varadkar and EU chiefs have given Theresa May a maximum of three months to come up with a Brexit solution or face a no-deal.

Speaking to journalists in Brussels last night, the Taoiseach warned Brexit is “no passing squall” and will be more like climate change in its impact.

He said the implications would soon be felt by the man on the street as “businesses will start to bite”.

Mr Varadkar added: “I think it is important we come to an agreement as soon as possible.

“Politicians may be able to make late-night last-minute decisions in rooms in December or the New Year, but businesses are going to make plans long before that.

“The business sector operates on a quarter-by-quarter basis, businesses, banks, employers, airlines will start making decisions and they will start making decisions that bite.”

Mr Varadkar tried to stress how tough Brexit will be and how far-reaching the devastating implications could reach.

“A former minister said to me, I think it was a day or two after the referendum, he said to me, some people see Brexit as a storm, a passing squall that will Theresa May must find a solution be very rough and will then pass.

“But it’s not, what Brexit is, it’s the political equivalent of climate change, it’s permanent change, not in the weather, but climate when it comes to relations between Ireland and the UK and the UK and the EU.”

A no-deal crash Brexit could be disastrous for both Ireland and the UK and may see the return of a hard border between North and South.

However, the 27 remaining EU heads of State yesterday were supportive of Mrs May in her efforts this week.

The British Prime Minister must convince the hardline Brexiteers in Westminster a backstop agreement must be part of any exit Our story on backstop

deal.

Mrs May will have to come forward with fresh proposals at the next summit in middecember outlining the British position ahead of a formal Brexit in March.

In the late-night EU summit that concluded on Wednesday evening, the leaders all agreed not enough progress has been made.

No meeting is scheduled for next month because there is nothing to sign-off on.

The British Parliament has set January 21 as the date for its ratification debate in Westminster.