Varadkar: UK Brexit plans two years off schedule

TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar has said the UK should have come up with a Brexit plan two years ago.

He added Europe was beginning preparations for the “unlikely” possibility of a no-deal withdrawal and warned any future relationship would not be one of absolute equals.

Speaking ahead of an EU summit in Brussels yesterday: “It would have been helpful if they had had that white paper two years ago.

“You would have thought that before people voted to leave they would have an idea what the new relationship would look like.”

Mr Varadkar urged Britain to soften its negotiating red lines. He added: “It needs to understand we’re a union of 27 member states, 500 million people.

“We have laws and rules and principles, and they can’t be changed for any one country, even a great country like Britain.

“That basic fact has to be understood.”

He also said Ireland will not make preparations for a hard border but will begin planning at its ports and airports.

The Irish premier said it was a possibility the UK would “crash out” of the EU customs union and single market without an agreement.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the Irish border had to be the “first, second and third priority” in the Brexit negotiations.

SPEECH Leo Varadkar