Irish PM Varadkar: Withdrawal Agreement represents a fair compromise by all sides

Ahead of today’s critical meaningful vote on British Prime Minister Theresa May’s re-negotiated Brexit deal,  Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar shared his view on the Withdrawal Agreement in a Twiitter thread.

“In our work with EU & UK, we have insisted that the Withdrawal Agreement could not be rewritten & that the backstop arrangement, while intended to be temporary, must continue to apply unless and until it is replaced by future arrangements that can achieve the same objective. However, we have also said that we were prepared to offer further guarantees & reassurances to the UK of our good faith & intentions. The Instrument agreed yesterday puts those assurances on a legal footing & represents an unambiguous statement of what has been agreed.”

“Withdrawal Agreement represents a fair compromise by all sides.  Political Declaration provides a strong framework for future work. Further texts agreed yesterday provide additional guarantees to eliminate fears that the goal of some was to trap the UK indefinitely in the backstop. Brexit has been a dark cloud over us for many months, particularly the threat of no deal. We now need to see the Withdrawal Agreement ratified by Westminster & European Parliament, so that we can get on with important work of building the closest possible relationship post Brexit”