Leo Varadkar backs trade deal to avoid problems over border

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has received fresh assurances of a frictionless border in the North amid signs of a new power-sharing agreement in Stormont this week.

Mr Varadkar said a comprehensive free trade and customs deal between Britain and Ireland was the best way of avoiding problems at the border and any new barriers. After a meeting with British prime minister Theresa May in Belfast over attempts to restore devolved government there, he said that a Brexit deal agreed in December remained.

A new trade deal between Dublin and London was preferable over a last resort to avoid a border in the event of a no-deal, he said.