UK MEP Nigel Farage has claimed that the Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, is a “Brussels man”, and “not representing Irish interests”.
Farage was speaking on EuroParlRadio, the European Parliament’s radio news service, when he made the comments. He added that, in his view, Brexit will be pushed back even further beyond the current deadline of October 31.
“At some point, you would have thought that the Taoiseach would have put the interests of Irish people and Irish businesses above that of what Brussels wants,” said the pro-Brexit MEP.
At the moment he seems to be a Brussels man, not representing Irish interests.
Farage’s comments come after debate has erupted over the EU-Mercosur trade deal, with several political figures on this side of the Irish sea, both inside and outside the Government, raising fears over the possibility of more beef flooding in from South America.
Brexit
Commenting on the leadership debate for the UK’s Conservative Party between Jeremy Hunt and Boris Johnson – the winner of which would then become the country’s prime minister – Farage suggested that, either way, Brexit would be pushed back.
“I get the feeling, whoever wins, we’re going to see a continuation of what we saw under [outgoing Prime Minister Theresa] May…I suspect the can gets kicked down the road for another six months, or a year or whatever it is,” he argued.
Farage also suggested that, in the three years since the Brexit vote, public opinion in the UK has moved more firmly towards leaving rather than staying.
The Border
Farage went on to claim that it was “nonsense” that a hard border would be necessary after Brexit, and referenced the “spirit” of the Good Friday Agreement.
“When it looked, back in February, like we might leave on March 29 on WTO [World Trade Organisation] terms, the next day we had [the EU’s Brexit negotiator] Michel Barnier saying there would be no hard border; the British government saying that there would be no hard border; and Dublin saying there would be no hard border,” he argued.
Unless Donald Trump is coming over to build a wall, why should there be a hard border? It’s nonsense.
“Already we have different tax rates, different income tax rates, different excise duties, different corporation tax rates and a different currency. And yet, on the basis of the spirit of the Good Friday Agreement all those years ago and the principal of live and let live, life goes on,” concluded Farage.