No deal if Britain backtracks on its Irish border promise, Dublin warns

Ireland today warned Britain there will be “no deal” on Brexit if it backtracks on a promise to avoid a hard border.

The country’s deputy premier Simon Coveney said EU countries were considering allowing Britain to leave without an agreement unless they get legally binding assurances on the 300-mile border with Northern Ireland.

Mr Coveney told RTÉ radio: “We have been reassured over and over again that Ireland will not be left isolated.

“Let’s be very clear: there will be no withdrawal agreement, no transition agreement and no managed Brexit if the UK don’t follow through on their commitments in writing to Ireland, and to the EU as a whole.”

He called for talks to be stepped up over the summer on the border issue and said he regretted that substantial progress had not already been made.

“We had asked for and looked for significant progress in June. The British government have been unable to deliver on that. That is frustrating for everybody. But, if anything, the negotiations need to intensify, particularly on the Irish backstop element of the withdrawal agreement.”

The warning came as European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier visited Dublin today.

Their meeting ahead of the European Council in Brussels this month is being interpreted as a gesture of solidarity on behalf of European leaders to Ireland.

Mr Juncker was due to meet Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and receive an honorary doctorate from the National University of Ireland.

The EU Withdrawal Bill completed its passage through Parliament last night after a last-minute compromise deal saw off a threatened rebellion by pro-EU Tories. It means Speaker John Bercow will decide what kind of “meaningful vote” MPs will get if there is a no-deal withdrawal from the EU.

This pacified Tory rebel Dominic Grieve MP. A Lords amendment that would have given MPs the power to block a “no deal” Brexit was voted down by 319 votes to 303.