Deputy Irish PM brands Britain’s no-deal Brexit plan ‘bluff and bravado’ – and says we can’t afford to leave
Ireland’s Deputy PM sparked fresh uproar yesterday by dismissing Britain’s planning for a No Deal as “bluff and bravado”.
Furious Eurosceptics laid into Simon Coveney as he said Britain “cannot afford” to crash out of the EU – and it had to inject more “positivity” into the negotiations with Brussels.
Top Tory Eurosceptic Jacob Rees-Mogg dismissed the Deputy PM as European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker’s “patsy”. And he insisted: “Mr Coveney is risking Ireland’s prosperity with his stubbornness.
“The EU and Ireland are saying that unless Northern Ireland remains in the single market and customs union there would have to be a hard border – but they are also saying they would not impose one. It’s a fundamental contradiction.”
Earlier Mr Coveney also suggested Britain could ask for Article 50 to be extended “beyond the deadline”. And he said it may be “necessary” to get an agreement.
He also cast doubts on the Chequers deal - which seeks to bind the UK to EU rules on goods but not services.
Mr Coveney also said it may be 'necessary' for Britain to get a deal to ask for Article 50 to be extended
The Sun Says
HOW dare gobby Irish politicians keep belittling Britain? Who do they think they are?
We know it’s what their EU masters want. But what sort of relationship do they want with us after all this is over?
Talking about, and planning for, no-deal is not the “bravado” sneered at by Simon Coveney, deputy to pipsqueak PM Leo Varadkar. It is a vital precaution we should have begun two years ago.
Leavers do not fear it, despite the panic Remainers are now deliberately stoking.
Nor is it a bluff. It simply looks more likely every day. Especially on days when Irish politicians are wheeled on to pressurise us to shift even further towards Brussels’ fixed position.
We have compromised far too much already. The EU must now cross some red lines. Why not? No country has left before. The situation is unprecedented. The EU’s response must be too.
Ireland will be hit hard if no deal is struck. It should be pleading with Brussels. It can see Theresa May has no further room for manoeuvre without her Government imploding.
And no, Mr Coveney, Britain doesn’t need “more time”.
We need the EU to finally accept we aren’t changing our minds — unlike Ireland over the Lisbon Treaty and despite the Remainer clamour to do so.
That way lies permanent servitude, global humiliation and political chaos.
Mr Coveney said: “It will be difficult to separate goods and services.
“If you look at a car, a large part of that is services as well as the physical components which are goods.”
Visiting Northern Ireland yesterday, Chancellor Philip Hammond said there was no chance of the province adopting different rules from rest of the UK after Brexit.
He said the prospect of further regulatory divergence between Northern Ireland and the mainland was unlikely.
And he ruled out seeking an extension of Article 50 – saying there was “no legal basis” for extending the two-year negotiation period with the EU “even if we wanted to do so”.
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