Brexit: Theresa May should be offering concessions to EU, says Irish prime minister Varadkar

Ireland’s prime minister has turned the tables on Theresa May in Brexit talks, warning that she should in fact be making concessions to the EU if she wants changes to the agreement.

Leo Varadkar on Friday said talks were actually “a question of what they are willing to offer us” as Ms May urged concessions from the bloc. He said the UK had made no offer and should change its approach.

Ms May has been unable to get the deal she negotiated through parliament because of concerns about it from all sides. She wants the EU to change aspects of the withdrawal agreement to make it more palatable to hard Brexiteers within her party.

But speaking in Dublin the taoiseach said the withdrawal agreement as it stood was “already a compromise” that had taken a year and a half to negotiate.

“We’ve already agreed to a review clause so I think we have made a lot of compromises and what’s not evident is what the UK government is offering the EU and Ireland should they wish us to make any further compromises, we receive no offer as to what they would give us in return for any changes,” he said.

“It would require a change of approach by the UK government to understand that Brexit is a problem of their creation, what was agreed is already a compromise. They failed to secure ratification of this so it should be a question of what they are willing to offer us.”

EU leaders have previously suggested the government should soften Brexit by renegotiating the future relationship, in order to gain Labour votes to pass the plan. Theresa May has rejected this approach – which would be likely to enrage hard Brexiteers in her party.

The prime minister wants legally binding changes to water down the Irish border backstop. Her negotiators, who have been shuttling between Brussels and London all week, have reportedly proposed a new system that could end the backstop early if both sides do not endeavour to replace it with new arrangements.

Ms May herself gave a speech in Grimsby on Friday afternoon, calling for “one more push” from the EU to get her deal over the line. The same day, foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt said people would blame the EU if it did not make concessions for the UK.

EU diplomats willing to comment on the talks have spoken of their frustration with the UK’s approach.

“We are expecting a blame game after she loses the second ‘meaningful vote’ next week, so it looks like she is already preparing the ground for this,” one EU diplomat said.

Meanwhile Mr Varadkar’s deputy Simon Coveney warned the prime minister not to listen to hard Brexiteers in her party.

“We can’t have the future relationship between the EU and UK determined by a relatively small number of hardliners who are trying to force the British prime minister to change her position,” he told the broadcaster Euronews.

Mr Coveney added that he believed there was “no real cause for optimism” following a meeting he attended in London earlier this week.

The prime minister is expected to visit Brussels on Monday in a bid to secure final concessions in person. Her MPs will vote on her deal again on Tuesday, with votes on ruling out no deal and extending Article 50 close behind.