Leo Varadkar, pictured with Boris Johnson in 2019: ‘It is not normal for a democratic government in a respected country to sign a treaty and then try to pass domestic legislation to override it.’ Photograph: Getty Images Rory Carroll Ireland correspondent @rorycarroll72 Fri 1 Jul 2022 12.52 BST Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s deputy prime minister, has accused the British government of risking the break-up of the United Kingdom and making “shocking” blunders over Northern Ireland. Varadkar said Boris Johnson’s administration had been undemocratic and disrespectful and tacitly accused it of being dishonest and dishonourable. The tánaiste made the sharp attack in a BBC interview on Thursday night, days after the Northern Ireland protocol bill – which could override the Brexit deal – cleared its first hurdle in the House of Commons. “I think that’s a strategic mistake for people who want to maintain the union because if you continue to impose things on Northern Ireland that a clear majority of people don’t want, that means more people will turn away from the union. It’s a peculiar policy coming from a government that purports to want to defend the union,” he said. Advertisement Varadkar, who is due to succeed Micheál Martin as taoiseach later this year, said he found it “shocking and hard to accept” that Downing Street sought unilaterally to change the protocol. “What the British government is doing now is very undemocratic and very disrespectful to people in Northern Ireland because it’s taking that power away from the assembly.” Boris Johnson in profile seated in the back of a car taking him away from talks at Hillborough Castle in Northern Ireland Boris Johnson warned NI protocol ‘rule-breaking’ will repeat mistakes of Partygate Read more An honourable government would honour a treaty it had agreed and abide by international law, he said. “It is not normal for a democratic government in a respected country to sign a treaty and then try to pass domestic legislation to override it,” he said. Varadkar rubbished statements from Liz Truss, the UK foreign secretary, who said the EU’s proposed solutions would worsen bureaucratic impediments. “Well, there are some people clearly who are able to say a square is a circle. That’s just not the facts.” Asked about a statement from Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland secretary, that relations with Dublin were “great”, Varadkar replied: “In my political lifetime, I’ve never seen relations this bad.” London did not want to work with Dublin, was picking fights with Brussels, and not being even-handed in Belfast, he said. Sign up to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every weekday morning at 7am BST Advertisement Separately, in a letter to the Financial Times, Adrian O’Neill, Ireland’s ambassador to the UK, rebutted an opinion piece by Truss that had defended the protocol legislation. It would destabilise Northern Ireland by creating a legal and political vacuum, he said. Meanwhile, Michelle O’Neill, Sinn Féin’s deputy leader and putative first minister of Northern Ireland, on Friday laid a wreath at a cenotaph in Belfast to commemorate British army soldiers – many from Ireland – who died at the battle of the Somme in 1916, an important anniversary for unionists. Sinn Féin leaders have previously attended first world war commemorations but not in Belfast. O’Neill attended a low-key event before the city’s official commemoration. “As political leaders we have a responsibility to reach beyond our comfort zones and reach out the hand of friendship and to do whatever we can in terms of leadership and healing the wounds of the past,” she said. You"ve read 10 articles in the last year Article count on Boris Johnson is somehow clinging to power despite a mutiny by his own MPs over the Partygate affair. The entire debacle is a perfect example of why we need rigorous, independent journalism. 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