Irish premier Leo Varadkar has ruled out reopening negotiations around the Irish backstop.

The Taoiseach said it was not possible to reopen any aspect of the Withdrawal Agreement without reopening all aspects of it.

The Fine Gael leader said he spoke to Prime Minister Theresa May on Sunday about her progress in securing support for the draft agreement, however he refused to give further details about what the two leaders discussed.

“The Withdrawal Agreement, including the Irish backstop, is the only agreement on the table,” he said.

“It took over a year-and-a-half to negotiate and has the support of 28 governments and it’s not possible to reopen any aspect of that agreement without reopening all aspects of it.

“The purpose of that phone call was to update me on the progress she (Mrs May) is making in trying to secure ratification of the Withdrawal Agreement in the House of Commons and also to think ahead as to how we handle the EU summit which is happening later in the week.”

Speaking at an event where he unveiled more than 75 million euro for 27 projects under the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund, Mr Varadkar said the EU has made a lot of concessions through the negotiation process including the recent review clause.

He added: “We should never forget how we got to this point, the UK decided to leave the EU and the UK Government decided to take lots of options off the table, whether it was staying in the single market and the customs union or Northern Ireland specific backstop.

“We ended up with the backstop in this Withdrawal Agreement because of the red lines the UK laid down along the way.”

He added that the agreement has the backing of the 28 member states.

“I have no difficulty with statements that clarify what is in the Withdrawal Agreement but no statement of clarification can contradict what is in the Withdrawal Agreement,” he continued.

After Mrs May called off the crunch House of Commons vote, Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s Brexit representative, tweeted: “I can’t follow anymore. After two years of negotiations, the Tory government wants to delay the vote.

“Just keep in mind that we will never let the Irish down. This delay will further aggravate the uncertainty for people and businesses. It’s time they make up their mind.”