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Leo Varadkar is 'wrong' to threaten to stop British planes flying over Ireland, says Downing Street

The Irish Prime Minister is "wrong" to threaten to block British planes flying over his country in a tit-for-tat response to the United Kingdom reclaiming sovereignty over its fishing rights after Brexit, Number 10 has said.

On Wednesday evening, Leo Varadkar suggested his government could close Irish airspace to one of its largest trading partners if Theresa May decided to restrict Irish fisherman’s access when the UK leaves the Commons Fisheries Policy.

However a spokesman for Theresa May, the British Prime Minister, said today that Mr Varadkar was "wrong".

The Prime Minister's deputy official spokesman said: "It is wrong to say that Ireland could simply stop the UK from flying over its land as a result of Brexit because over-flight rights are not guaranteed by the EU but by multinational treaty which both ourselves and Ireland are signed up to.

"We are confident that we will reach an agreement which maintains our aviation access."

Mr Varadkar had said: “You can’t have your cake and eat it. You can’t take back your waters and then expect to take back other people’s sky.

“The situation at the moment is that the United Kingdom is part of the single European sky, and if they leave the EU they are not and that does mean that if there was a no deal, hard Brexit next March, the planes would not fly.

“If they want their planes to fly over our skies, they would need to take that into account.”

About | Open Skies
About | Open Skies

British Government officials have pointed out that airspace rules are not governed by the EU, but the International Air Services Transit Agreement signed by 133 nations.

This means that Ireland could only block British planes by quitting the treaty.

However Mr Varadkar's comments are likely to frustrate officials both in London and Brussels, who had been hoping that the publication of the Brexit white paper last week would help create the goodwill necessary to reach a deal.

On Friday morning Karen Bradley, the Northern Ireland Secretary, appeared to side with Mr Varadkar, admitting that in the event of no deal there were “all sorts of scenarios...that could happen.”

The Irish Taoiseach (left) pictured with Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission
The Irish Taoiseach (left) pictured with Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission

Pressed again on whether British planes could be grounded, she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We’re in the middle of a negotiation and things will always be said on all sides.

“If we crashed out with absolutely no relationship with the European Union there would be an awful lot of implications from that, and we have quite rightly been planning for that.

“If you look in the white paper we are very clear that we do want a deal on aviation, but we are leaving the Commons Fisheries Policy so that we can negotiate around fisheries as a sovereign country.”

However, other Conservative MPs lashed out at Mr Varadkar over the remarks, with Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the backbench Eurosceptics, branding him an “airhead”.

“Air traffic control continued between Russia and the Ukraine after Russia invaded the Crimea so this idea is silly,” he told The Sun.

“On the other hand most flights from the EU to America pass through our air traffic control so this rather lightweight Irish gentleman is proposing an absurd act.”

Echoing his comments, Andrew Rosindell MP, a Tory candidate for London Mayor, accused Mr Varadkar of grandstanding, adding that he should “stop taking his orders from Brussels.”

Meanwhile, Sammy Wilson, a DUP MP, claimed that the Taoiseach was pursuing a “vicious vendetta” against Britain.

Profile | Leo Varadkar
Profile | Leo Varadkar

“It seems that in his obsession to prove himself a good servant of the EU, the Irish taioseach has taken leave of his senses,” he added. “He wants no hard border on land but now threatens to erect one in the air.”

Others pointed out that if Britain were to reciprocate it would have profound consequences for Ireland, with airlines flying out of the republic only able to fly directly to Spain, Portugal and the Canaries.

Dublin to London is the second busiest aviation route in the world.