Boris Johnson at odds with Leo Varadkar over Irish backstop
Boris Johnson and his Irish counterpart Leo Varadkar are at odds over how to solve the Brexit impasse, with Leo Varadkar stating that the EU was united in its insistence that the withdrawal agreement could not be reopened.
The Prime Minister held a phone call with Varadkar today, in which the two leaders discussed Brexit.
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Johnson, who was elected Conservative party leader and Prime Minister last week, said his “clear preference” was for the UK to leave the EU with a deal but that it would leave the bloc “no matter what” on 31 October.
He said any deal reached with Brussels must “abolish” the backstop, the insurance policy designed to prevent a hard border in Northern Ireland by keeping the UK in a temporary customs union with the EU.
His position put him at odds with Varadkar, who along with other EU leaders has insisted that the backstop is an integral part of the withdrawal agreement that cannot be changed.
In his phone call with Johnson, Varadkar called the backstop “necessary” and said no technical solutions to avoid physical checks on the Irish border – something Johnson said the UK would never resort to – had been identified.
The two leaders spoke ahead of the Prime Minister’s first visit to Wales today, where he met farmers to discuss Brexit.
He said scrapping the EU’s common agricultural policy, which provides financial support to farmers in member states, and creating new trade deals would leave farming communities better off.
Johnson said: “I will always back Britain’s great farmers and as we leave the EU we need to make sure that Brexit works for them.
“That means scrapping the common agricultural policy and signing new trade deals – our amazing food and farming sector will be ready and waiting to continue selling ever more not just here but around the world.
“Once we leave the EU on 31 October, we will have a historic opportunity to introduce new schemes to support farming – and we will make sure that farmers gets a better deal.”
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However, farmers’ associations have warned about a no-deal Brexit, in which their exports could face tariffs of up to 40 per cent.
The Farmers’ Union of Wales warned there could be “civil unrest” if the the UK left the EU without a deal, while the National Sheep Association in Wales said Johnson needed to stop playing “Russian roulette with the agriculture industry”.