Ireland's Foreign Affairs min @simoncoveney has said on @rtenews @thisweekrte that it is not the intention of France or any other member state to go for a No Deal in the hope of getting a better deal as Britain would be in a weaker position.
2/ Mr Coveney said that would be a "very risky approach" which would cause a lot of "acrimony and division".
3/ Asked if a deal would be possible if the UK passed the Internal Market and Taxation bills, Mr Coveney said that if the House of Commons approved the former it would be "unhelpful" but that the legislation won't have been fully passed (ie it would go back to the House of Lords)
4/ However if a second piece of legislation (the Taxation Bill) were introduced and *both* bills passed then, he said, "I don't see how that [FTA] agreement would be ratified [by the European Parliament]"
5/ "The UK government understand this" he told presenter @MrJustinMac
6/ Mr Coveney said both bills were being used as leverage in the negotiations by the UK. However, if there was an FTA, the problems that the bills seek to address (relating to the NI Protocol) may have disappeared...
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