Brexit: Irish foreign minister blasts ‘inaccurate’ Tory leadership debate over EU and backstop

Simon Coveney also warns no deal is more likely than ever

Ireland’s foreign minister has blasted the “inaccurate” discussion of Brexit taking place during the Conservative leadership contest.

Simon Coveney, who is also the country’s deputy prime minister, accused people involved in the debate of having “their own facts”.

“In recent weeks we have observed and listened to some inaccurate utterances about ourselves, the EU and the backstop,” he wrote in an article for the Irish Times newspaper.

Without specifically naming any of the culprits, he added: “Of course people can have their own opinions, but they cannot have their own facts. The facts are that Brexit is a British decision, triggering Article 50 on 29 March 2017 was a British decision, and the red lines laid down for the negotiation are British red lines.”

Mr Coveney warned that “the chances of a disorderly Brexit have never been higher” and the said the Irish government “now considers the risk of this outcome on 31 October as ‘significant’”.

The warning represents a shift – back in March Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s prime minister, said he believed that no deal was an unlikely prospect.

Mr Varadkar has also warned that the mood among EU leaders is now such that they would be reticent to grant another extension to Article 50 from the start of November, when the current clock runs down.

Late last month Mr Varadkar said heads of government and state across the block had “lost patience” with Britain – though he said his own was “endless”.

“There’s very much a strong view across the European Union that there shouldn’t be any more extensions,” he said – suggesting one might be granted only for a general election or second referendum.

In the Irish Times article published on Monday, Mr Coveney also reiterated the longstanding EU position that the backstop would not be reopened, and that Tory MPs’ proposals to use technology to deal with the Irish border issue were not sufficient.

He also warned that a no-deal Brexit would hurt Northern Ireland, arguing: “I say read the stark warnings and bleak reports of the Northern Ireland civil service. Listen to farming and fishing groups as well as the diverse business lobby. They all strongly support the backstop.”

On Monday Boris Johnson said he would make the UK “match fit” for a no-deal Brexit – though a series of leaks from Whitehall have suggested the government needs more time to prepare.