Coveney: Boris Johnson has 'no credible replacement for backstop'

Tánaiste Simon Coveney says any deal has to be based on the withdrawal agreement

The British government has made no credible alternative to the backstop, Tánaiste Simon Coveney has said.

Speaking in Helsinki on Friday, the Irish deputy prime minister said no country wants a Brexit deal more than the Republic of Ireland.

However, he said any deal has to be "based on the withdrawal agreement".

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has promised a renewed effort to secure a deal. UK negotiators will meet their EU counterparts twice a week next month.

Mr Coveney said he did not see any problem, from a European perspective, in terms of "making time available for negotiations".

"I'm sure that if [Boris Johnson] wanted five days of negotiations per week, the EU would be happy with that, but at the moment, nothing credible has come from the British government in the context of an alternative to the backstop," he said.

"If that changes, great. We'll look at it in Dublin, but more importantly it can be the basis of a discussion in Brussels.

"It can't simply be this notion that 'look, we must have the backstop removed and we will solve this problem in the future negotiation' without any credible way of doing that.

"That's not going to fly and it's important that we are all honest about that."

Reuters

The UK is due to leave the EU on 31 October, with or without a deal

On Wednesday, the prime minister set in motion the suspension of the UK Parliament.

The move means MPs have much less time to debate Brexit.

Parliament is to be suspended for five weeks ahead of 31 October, the day the UK is due to leave the EU.

Barnier in Belfast

Meanwhile, the EU's chief Brexit negotiator is to give a lecture in Northern Ireland next month.

Michel Barnier is due to speak at Queen's University in Belfast on 9 September.

Mr Barnier last visited Northern Ireland in May 2018 when he met business leaders and cross-border groups in Londonderry.

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