Leo Varadkar has said removing the Irish border backstop from the UK’s EU Withdrawal Agreement would be “effectively the same” as a no-deal Brexit.
The Irish premier added it was “alarming” that Conservative leadership candidates have proposed changes to the policy which safeguards against a hard border.
Boris Johnson, the frontrunner in the race to replace Theresa May as prime minister, is among those who have suggested ditching the backstop in favour of unspecified “alternative arrangements”.
But the EU has insisted the Withdrawal Agreement – including the backstop – is not up for renegotiation.
Mr Varadkar told RTE: “To me no backstop is effectively the same as no deal because what the backstop is is … a legally operable guarantee that we will never see a hard border emerge again.
“If we don’t have that, that is no deal.”
1/9 Boris Johnson
Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson has long been hopeful, he previously stood in the leadership contest that followed the Brexit vote and has at many times since been thought to be maneuvering himself towards the goal. He remains a darling of the party’s right wing, particularly those in the ERG, and is the most popular choice among Tory voters but his leadership bid would be fiercely opposed by many MPs
PA
2/9 Michael Gove
Environment secretary Michael Gove is another member who has long wanted to be leader. He has lately been known for rousing his party in the commons, his recent speeches on the Brexit deal and Labour’s no confidence motion have overshadowed the Prime Minister’s. He has been loyal to the Prime Minister, partly to shed his reputation as a backstabber who abandoned Boris Johnson to stand against him in the 2016 leadership election
Getty
3/9 Dominic Raab
Former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab has emerged as a favourite to be the Brexiteer candidate in a contest to succeed to Ms May. He displayed a grip on detail in his role as Brexit secretary. When asked recently if he would like to become prime minister he replied “never say never”
Getty
4/9 Rory Stewart
International development secretary Rory Stewart is pitching himself as the sensible candidate, promising to rule out both a second referendum and a no-deal Brexit. He was only recently promoted to the cabinet, previously serving as prisons minister, where he caught headlines with a pledge to resign if he could not reduce levels of violence within a year
PA
5/9 Esther McVey
The former work and pensions secretary announced that she will be standing for the leadership when May leaves. McVey is the first to explicitly state that she intends to stand. She resigned from the cabinet in protest over May’s Brexit deal
AFP/Getty
6/9 Sajid Javid
Home secretary Sajid Javid is said to have a plan in place for a leadership race. He made headlines over Christmas when he declared that people smuggling over the English channel was a “major incident” and more recently when he revoked the citizenship of ISIS bride Shamima Begum. Son of a bus driver, he wants the Conservatives to be seen as the party of social mobility
PA
7/9 Jeremy Hunt
Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt was recently thought to be the favourite in the event of a leadership race as he could sell himself as the man to unite the party. Critics worry that his long stint as health secretary could return to haunt him at a general election. He has reportedly been holding meetings with Tory MPs over breakfast to promote his leadership
PA
8/9 Andrea Leadsom
Following the Prime Minister’s second defeat over her Brexit deal, Leader of the house Andrea Leadsom hosted a dinner party at which “leadership was the only topic of conversation”, The Times heard. Leadsom ran against Theresa May in the 2016 leadership election before dropping out, allowing May to become Prime Minister
AFP/Getty
9/9 Priti Patel
Former international development secretary Priti Patel is thought to be positioning herself as a contender. One MP told The Independent “she knows she’s from the right of the party, the part which is going to choose the next leader, so she’s reminding everyone she’s there.” Patel left the government late in 2017 after it emerged that she had held undisclosed meetings with Israeli officials
PA
1/9 Boris Johnson
Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson has long been hopeful, he previously stood in the leadership contest that followed the Brexit vote and has at many times since been thought to be maneuvering himself towards the goal. He remains a darling of the party’s right wing, particularly those in the ERG, and is the most popular choice among Tory voters but his leadership bid would be fiercely opposed by many MPs
PA
2/9 Michael Gove
Environment secretary Michael Gove is another member who has long wanted to be leader. He has lately been known for rousing his party in the commons, his recent speeches on the Brexit deal and Labour’s no confidence motion have overshadowed the Prime Minister’s. He has been loyal to the Prime Minister, partly to shed his reputation as a backstabber who abandoned Boris Johnson to stand against him in the 2016 leadership election
Getty
3/9 Dominic Raab
Former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab has emerged as a favourite to be the Brexiteer candidate in a contest to succeed to Ms May. He displayed a grip on detail in his role as Brexit secretary. When asked recently if he would like to become prime minister he replied “never say never”
Getty
4/9 Rory Stewart
International development secretary Rory Stewart is pitching himself as the sensible candidate, promising to rule out both a second referendum and a no-deal Brexit. He was only recently promoted to the cabinet, previously serving as prisons minister, where he caught headlines with a pledge to resign if he could not reduce levels of violence within a year
PA
5/9 Esther McVey
The former work and pensions secretary announced that she will be standing for the leadership when May leaves. McVey is the first to explicitly state that she intends to stand. She resigned from the cabinet in protest over May’s Brexit deal
AFP/Getty
6/9 Sajid Javid
Home secretary Sajid Javid is said to have a plan in place for a leadership race. He made headlines over Christmas when he declared that people smuggling over the English channel was a “major incident” and more recently when he revoked the citizenship of ISIS bride Shamima Begum. Son of a bus driver, he wants the Conservatives to be seen as the party of social mobility
PA
7/9 Jeremy Hunt
Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt was recently thought to be the favourite in the event of a leadership race as he could sell himself as the man to unite the party. Critics worry that his long stint as health secretary could return to haunt him at a general election. He has reportedly been holding meetings with Tory MPs over breakfast to promote his leadership
PA
8/9 Andrea Leadsom
Following the Prime Minister’s second defeat over her Brexit deal, Leader of the house Andrea Leadsom hosted a dinner party at which “leadership was the only topic of conversation”, The Times heard. Leadsom ran against Theresa May in the 2016 leadership election before dropping out, allowing May to become Prime Minister
AFP/Getty
9/9 Priti Patel
Former international development secretary Priti Patel is thought to be positioning herself as a contender. One MP told The Independent “she knows she’s from the right of the party, the part which is going to choose the next leader, so she’s reminding everyone she’s there.” Patel left the government late in 2017 after it emerged that she had held undisclosed meetings with Israeli officials
PA
The Democratic Unionist Party, which has supported Ms May’s government in Westminster, has insisted it would not back any EU withdrawal deal which includes a backstop with no time limit.
But Mr Varadkar said: “The difficulties we have with a time limit is effectively you are saying there will or could be a hard border once that time limit expires. That isn’t a backstop.
“What we are open to, and always have been open to, is alternative arrangements that perhaps could avoid a hard border, through procedures and technologies and so on.
“What we expect – and I don’t think it’s unreasonable – we want to see that fleshed out, we want to see it exist, it demonstrated before we are willing to give up the backstop.”
The Taoisearch added: “What people are saying is ‘give up the backstop’ – which we know will work legally and operationally – in return for something that doesn’t yet exist but might exist in the future.
“I can’t do that to the border communities.”
Mr Johnson has claimed it is “perfectly realistic” to renegotiate the Withdrawal Agreement to allow the UK to leave the EU in October.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme, he described the backstop as the “fundamental flaw” in the agreement.
He added: “Those problems are easily capable of solution, as I think the [European] Commission has said in the past, with maximum facilitation techniques and, after all, at the moment you already have goods conforming to different standards.”