Coveney insists backstop is needed to protect peace

Dublin has delivered a thinly veiled warning to Downing Street not to go back on the Brexit deal hammered out with the European Union.

And in what is likely to be seen as a swipe at hardline Tory Brexiteers, Irish deputy prime minister Simon Coveney told the Press Association that those “misrepresenting” the backstop had failed to produce an alternative to it.

Mr Coveney said the British Cabinet had endorsed the Withdrawal Agreement including the backstop aimed at preventing a hard border, as he made clear it would not be changed.

He told the Press Association: “A hard border cannot return.

“Peace and the Good Friday Agreement are more important than Brexit.

“Even in a no-deal Brexit situation every party and every MP in the UK will have a responsibility to ensure there is no return to a hard border and Northern Ireland is protected.

“That won’t be easy and those who misrepresent the backstop don’t have an alternative to it.

“With 60 days (from Monday) to go, the people attacking the backstop need to be asked two questions. Firstly, what is their alternative?

“Secondly, do they wish to protect the peace process?”

With Tory Brexiteers putting pressure on Prime Minister Theresa May to secure a time limit for the backstop, Mr Coveney made it clear that would not be acceptable.

He said: “Skilled UK and EU teams have worked to bring about a Withdrawal Agreement that has been endorsed by 27 governments and the British Cabinet.

“The backstop was negotiated around British red lines.

“The EU has been clear that the backstop is an integral part of the withdrawal agreement.

“A backstop is not a backstop if it is time limited.”

The backstop, which would see the UK obey EU customs rules if no wider trade agreement is sorted out after a transition period, has been attacked by Brexiteers who say it could keep Britain tied to Brussels indefinitely.

The issue is likely to feature in a Commons Brexit showdown on Tuesday after Leave backers tabled amendments to a Government motion calling for major changes to the backstop.

Mr Coveney, who is also foreign minister, used Mrs May’s own words to insist that guarantees on the border could not just be aspirational.

He said: “As the Prime Minister said herself in her Andrew Marr interview ‘no border simply doesn’t happen simply because people sit around saying, well, we won’t have a border’.

“The Prime Minister was spot on when she added that this is about practicality and a guarantee, not just aspiration.”

With some Irish politicians predicting that people would tear down any border infrastructure erected, Mr Coveney insisted there was never an excuse for violence.

He said: “Whatever the political grievance, there is no justification for violence in Northern Ireland.

“It is true that there is strong cross-community opposition in border regions to the possibility of any hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.”

Mr Coveney side-stepped questioning about what he believed the consequences would be of any attempt to impose martial law in Northern Ireland after a no-deal Brexit.

He said: “Ireland accepts Brexit is going to hurt us economically, it’s a UK policy and there is nothing we can do about the economic damage it will cause.

“However, we will not accept any going backwards on the 20 years of peace and stability between communities in Northern Ireland and between the Republic and Northern Ireland.”

Mr Coveney dismissed suggestions Ireland could form a customs union with just the UK, stating: “I can rule out any border between Ireland and the rest of the EU.”

Asked if some Irish people enjoyed having such political influence over the future of Britain, Mr Coveney said: “There is nothing enjoyable about Brexit.

“It is a lose, lose, lose situation.

“The EU will lose a great member state.

“Ireland will lose a great partner in the EU.

“And in my humble opinion, the UK will lose by leaving.”

The Commons rejected the Brexit deal Mrs May agreed with the EU by a crushing majority of 230 earlier this month.

The PM has anchored hopes of re-selling it to MPs with concessions on the backstop.