The Taoiseach cut short his planned trip to the US to hold bilateral talks with the EU Commission president Jean Claude Juncker. Prime Minister Theresa May flew to Strasbourg on Mondy evening for crunch talks with the EU and has managed to secure "legally-binding" changes to her Brexit deal. Theresa May said she "passionately believed" in her Brexit deal and had now addressed the concerns raised by Parliament in January over the Northern Irish backstop. Mrs May said she had ensured there would be "no indefinite backstop" and any attempt to keep the UK in the backstop by the EU would be dealt with by an "arbitration mechanism".

Mr Juncker said: "If either side were to act in bad faith, there is a legal way for the other party to exit.

"The instrument which sets out these details has legal force while fully respecting the guidelines of the European Council."

He added: "It compliments the Withdrawal Agreement without reopening it."

Meanwhile shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said the change "adds nothing" from the letter Mrs May returned from negotiations with on January 14.

Sir Keir said: "If all that's happening is to turn this letter into an interpretative tool for legal purposes, I remind the House what the Prime Minister said on January 14 about this letter.

"She said she had been advised this letter would have legal force in international law.

"To stand here today and say this is a significant change when she's repeating what she said on January 14 is not going to take anyone here far."

MPs will vote on Mrs May’s revised Brexit deal today in the House of Commons but faces an uphill task to convince the 230 parliamentarians who rejected her deal in the first vote in January.

Mr Varadkar also said he could not predict the outcome of Tuesday's vote on the Withdrawal Agreement in the House of Commons.

On the possibility of an extension to Article 50, Mr Varadkar said: ”If there is going to be an extension, it has to be an extension with a purpose.”

He added: ”Nobody across the European Union wants to see a rolling cliff-edge where tough decisions just get put off until the end of April, then to the end of May and then maybe till the end of July."

It is understood the Irish Cabinet will resume further talks following Theresa May and Jean-Claude Juncker's announcement in Strasbourg.