May to meet Varadkar in new bid to end Brexit deadlock

Politics 10:26 08.02.2019

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will be in Belfast this afternoon for meetings with each of the five main Stormont parties before returning to Dublin for discussions with the British Prime Minister Theresa May.

The official line from Dublin is Leo Varadkar is keen to discuss the impasse that has kept Stormont closed for two years with the DUP, Sinn Féin, SDLP, Ulster Unionist and Alliance party delegations.

The Taoiseach is keen to hear the parties concerns about the latest Brexit developments: he will brief the delegations on his meetings in Brussels earlier this week.

There is acceptance across the political spectrum here that Brexit is the problem that is keeping Stormont closed. There is little chance of power-sharing returning while the Brexit stalemate continues.

The Taoiseach's meeting with the DUP will see him face to face with the party leader, Arlene Foster, and Nigel Dodds, the leader of the DUP's 10 Westminster MPs. That will be an interesting discussion.

Tonight in Dublin Mr Varadkar will meet the British prime minister whose government relies on the support of the Democratic Unionist Party.

Ahead of her meeting with the Taoiseach over dinner, Attorney General Geoffrey Cox will hold talks in Dublin with his Irish counterpart, Seamus Woulfe.

Mr Cox has been leading work within Whitehall on providing either a time limit on the backstop or giving the UK an exit mechanism from it.

Both proposals have received a dusty response from Dublin, which insists the backstop cannot be time-limited if it is to provide an effective "insurance policy" against the return of a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

Mrs May, however, has warned she needs legally-binding assurances the UK will not be tied to EU rules indefinitely through the backstop if she is to get her Brexit deal through the House of Commons.

Brexit-related comments by Theresa May in Belfast on Tuesday and by Donald Tusk in Brussels on Wednesday created headlines.

There will be no joint news conference after tonight's Farmleigh House dinner.

Azerbaijan takes measures to turn Khankandi into safe city - VİDEO

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