Leo Varadkar has only himself to blame when Ireland is hit by no-deal Brexit

That is the clearest signal yet to end the EU withdrawal charade. We need a no-deal exit followed by a quick election. A final countdown to sort out the Brussels fanatics who will not accept the 2016 democratic vote to leave the EU.

A no-deal lets off the hook those backing the crazy notion of establishing a double jeopardy customs union border regulatory alignment. It shunts the treacherous backstop back to where it belongs.

As a no-deal bites against the Irish economy, Leo Varadkar will be held culpable in Dublin for the resulting financial hammer blow to Irish investment. For three years he refused to budge on the backstop.

There was never a move to compromise on the hostile action he was driving to destroy the Union. The Irish, least of all Mr Varadkar, cannot object when there is little sympathy in the unionist air. They have only themselves to blame for berating the British and ending up losing their mainstay market with the UK.

Mr Varadkar should have known better than to gamble his country’s economy on a backstop which was doomed to fail.

Why he did not seek another option by asking that the EU would grant a special dispensation to permit an exclusive trade arrangement with the UK is as bewildering as it will prove economically foolhardy. The Irish will suffer the consequences of Mr Varadkar’s bullishness.

A no-deal delivers the clarity local business demands. It brings into clear focus the certainty of the direction of travel the UK will embark on as a proud sovereign and independent nation. Northern Ireland, as part of the world’s fifth largest economy, has a win -win future to benefit from within a reinvigorated highly competitive global trading conglomerate. We would be nuts to allow anyone to scupper the golden opportunities ahead.

David McNarry, Newtownards, Co Down