New Pictures No-deal Brexit 'WILL mean hard border on island of Ireland'

Leo Varadkar today said Ireland and the UK will have to strike a customs deal to keep the Irish border open if there is a no deal Brexit. 

The Irish PM said a new backstop will have to be agreed to honour the Good Friday peace agreement - despite spending two years blocking Britain's bid for a deal.

The comments after the EU Commission today warned that a no deal Brexit will mean a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.

Mr Varadkar told the Irish parliament: 'Both the UK and Ireland will have an obligation to honour the Good Friday Agreement, protect the peace process and honour our commitment to the people of Ireland and Northern Ireland, that there won't be a hard border.

'We would have to negotiate an agreement on customs and regulations that meant full alignment so there will be no hard border.'

Just hours earlier the EU commission gave the clearest indication yet that it will insist on physical checks if the UK crashes out of the bloc. 

Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar (pictured) has denied there is any 'secret plan' for a hard border

Quizzed on the border issue today, EU commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said: 'If you like to push me and speculate on what might happen in a no-deal scenario in Ireland, I think it's pretty obvious, you will have a hard border,' he said.

'Our commitment to the Good Friday Agreement and everything that we have been doing for years with our tools, instruments and programmes will have to take inevitably into account this fact.

'So, of course, we are for peace, of course we stand behind the Good Friday Agreement, but that's what a no-deal scenario would entail.' 

What is Tuesday's Plan B vote and what will it mean?

What is happening? 

Because Theresa May's Brexit deal was defeated, the law says she must tell Parliament what her Plan B is.

This has to be done in a motion to the Commons, which will be voted on by MPs next Tuesday night.

That motion can be re-written by MPs if they table amendments and win a vote in favour of them.

Some amendments have already been tabled and MPs can keep producing them until Monday night.

What does May's plan say? 

It promises more cross-party working, renews commitments to protecting workers' rights after Brexit and says the PM will ask Brussels for more concessions on the backstop.

It it based on the current deal that was crushed by 230 votes last week.

What do the main amendments say? 

Jeremy Corbyn's amendment says Parliament should vote on 'options' including a renegotiation of the deal to get a permanent customs union and for a second referendum. 

A cross party amendment from Yvette Cooper and Nicky Morgan seeks to block no deal by giving time to a draft law that would require the Government to delay Brexit if a deal has not been agreed by February 26. It upturns normal convention by putting a backbench MP's Bill ahead of Government plans. 

An amendment from Tory rebel Dominic Grieve seeks to set up weekly debates that would mean regular votes on what to do in the absence a deal. His amendments sets aside six named days for the debates - including as late as March 26. 

What would the vote do? 

Legally nothing - but if the Commons votes in favour of a clear way forward by a majority it will be a major political signal of what might happen.

Is it a new 'meaningful vote' that can approve May's deal? 

No. At some point, the PM will have to stage a repeat of last week's vote to get explicit approval from MPs to go ahead with her deal if she wants it to survive. 

Theresa May's Brexit deal was defeated in large part because of the 'backstop' provision that is intended to avoid the need for a hard line.

Dublin's deputy PM Simon Coveney was caught on microphone earlier this month apparently conceding that there would need to be checks, but warning they could not state that publicly for fear of a backlash.

Following the gaffe Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar quickly denied there was any 'secret plan' for a hard border.  

A spokesman for the Irish government said: 'We will not accept a hard border on this island and therefore we are not planning for one.

'Working out suitable customs and trade arrangements compatible with our EU membership will require detailed discussion with the Commission, while the UK will also need to live up to its responsibilities. 

'We are under no illusions about how challenging that would be.'

Mr Coveney forgot his microphone was still on as he spoke to Transport Minister Shane Ross while Mrs May suffered her humbling Commons defeat on the Brexit deal last week.

But he warned that 'we can't get into where they'll be'.

He added: 'People will start delving into that and all of a sudden we'll be the government that reintroduced a physical border on the island of Ireland.'   

DUP leader Arlene Foster has insisted there is no need for the Irish backstop as Mr Varadkar has vowed not to erect a hard border.

'As someone who lived through the Troubles,' she said, 'we never had a hard border.

'There were 20,000 soldiers in Northern Ireland and they could not hermetically seal the border in Northern Ireland. So it is a bit of a nonsense to talk about a hard border.'

The simmering row emerged as Remainer MPs revealed their plots to delay, water-down and even block Brexit as they tabled amendments to the PM's Brexit statement, which will be voted on next Tuesday.

No10 is on high alert for a fresh wave of ministerial resignations after sources confirmed that they will order their MPs to vote against a Bill tabled by Yvette Cooper to delay Brexit for nine months.

Cabinet Remainer minister Amber Rudd warned up to 40 ministers could quit in fury if the PM blocks the free vote. 

Tory MP Dominic Grieve and Labour's Yvette Cooper have tabled Brexit amendments which will be voted on in a crunch Commons showdown next Tuesday.  

Ms Cooper's amendment would suspend parliamentary rules to allow Bills tabled by backbench MPs to have priority over government business.

This would pave the way for her Bill to delay Brexit by extending Article 50 by another nine months to be debated.

Mrs May gathered her Cabinet at No10 this morning where Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt urged her to press ahead with her plan to secure fresh concessions from the EU on the hated Irish backstop.  

DUP leader Arlene Foster has insisted there is no need for the Irish backstop as Mr Varadkar has vowed not to erect a hard border

Theresa May (pictured in the Commons last night) and her senior ministers are trying to find her way through the Brexit deadlock

 

 

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News Photo No-deal Brexit 'WILL mean hard border on island of Ireland'
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