‘Brexiteer rump is pushing a no-deal’
Varadkar and Coveney talk tough on hardliners
‘Unclear how it can be avoided’
A RUMP of ‘corrosive’ but influential hardline Brexiteers is upping the risk of a chaotic no-deal Brexit, say ministers here. Both Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Tánaiste Simon Coveney yesterday took aim at those in Westminster who, they believe, are pushing the UK towards a no-deal Brexit.
However, they both backed Theresa May to get a deal passed. The British prime minister has struggled to find a majority in the Commons to support any position on Brexit and suffered an embarrassing defeat on Thursday on a motion backing her approach to negotiations.
It came as a group of Eurosceptics led by Jacob Rees-Mogg abstained on the vote over fears it could take a no-deal Brexit off the table, a move that has undermined Mrs May’s authority.
Asked if the result had increased the chances of a no-deal exit, Mr Varadkar said he doesn’t believe ‘they will pull that particular lever’.
Speaking at a Brexit event in Dublin Castle yesterday, he said: ‘There is certainly a hardline rump of MPs who would like no deal, who would like what they believe would be a clean break from the EU.
‘But I am confident that the vast majority of MPs in all parties in fact, including the Conservative Party, understand the consequences of that and the enormous damage it would do to the economy and also people’s rights and freedoms.’
A series of British-based businesses, including motor giant Ford, have warned the UK government about the disastrous consequences of crashing out without a deal.
On Thursday, the UK chairman of Tesco issued a tongue-in-cheek warning that British people had nothing to fear from a no-deal exit so long as people were content to eat ‘Spam and tinned peaches’.
The Taoiseach yesterday said the impasse in Westminster could cause problems for the UK when it seeks to negotiate new international trade deals after Brexit. ‘Countries all over the world are looking at the United Kingdom and wondering is this a country that is going to be able to make agreements, ratify them and stick to them,’ he said.
Mr Coveney told the same event that a no-deal Brexit was ‘crazy’ but how it can be avoided is not yet clear ‘because the British parliament itself doesn’t even know what it’s asking for’.
He admitted he had ‘a real concern’ about the influence of the hardline Brexiteers within the Conservative Party. ‘I think it is a small minority within Westminster but certainly it is an influential minority that can have a very corrosive impact on the ability to get a sensible outcome here that is good for Britain, is good for Ireland and that recognises the reasonable asks of the EU as well,’ he said.
But he agreed with the Taoiseach’s view that a no deal ultimately won’t happen. ‘I don’t believe that if you test that proposition, in terms of Britain’s economic interests, it stands up all,’ he said.
Meanwhile, Micheál Martin raised concerns about the secrecy of the Government here over what will happen at the border if there is no deal. Despite being asked on a daily basis in the Dáil, the Government has not answered the question of what will happen on the border in six weeks’ time in a no-deal scenario, the Fianna Fáil leader said.
But the Taoiseach dismissed reports from Reuters, which quoted an anonymous Brussels source, that Ireland will eventually have to choose between ‘a border on the island of Ireland or a border between Ireland and the rest of the EU’. Mr Varadkar added: ‘Whatever happens, Ireland is going to stay part of the EU.’