THE Irish border backstop issue is "done" and the European Union has "nothing to give" the UK on the Brexit deal apart from "clarifications", the French Finance Minister has warned.

Bruno Le Maire said it was up to Theresa May's Government to find a way out of the situation it found itself in, not EU member states.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today that there would be "concrete consequences" of leaving without a deal.

Speaking from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Le Maire said: "I'm afraid we have nothing to give.

"An agreement is an agreement and the responsibility of Brexit is clearly on the shoulders of the British government, not on the shoulders of the governments of the EU member states.

"It is up to the British Government to find the right way out, not us, the European governments.

"If there is a need for any further clarifications, of course we are always open to clarifications.

"But reopening the deal would mean weeks, months, of new negotiations between the UK and the European member states, that is exactly what we want to avoid."

Asked whether it was possible to revisit the Irish backstop within the Withdrawal Agreement, Le Maire added: "It is done. It is done and I think that we have to stick to the deal.

"I don't want to speculate on internal British policy because it is quite complicated and the UK is a sovereign country, but we don't have to speculate. It is up to the British Government to take its decisions now."

Asked about whether no-deal measures taken by the EU would be as bad as some groups have suggested, including border delays between Dover and Calais, Le Maire said: "We are aware that a no-deal situation would have concrete consequences and would force us to take some decisions to reinforce the control at our borders.

"So, there are many concrete consequences that would be a consequence of a no-deal situation. But we are prepared to do that."

Asked to comment on reports that some EU states want rules to be relaxed in the event of a no-deal Brexit to allow UK lorries and aircraft to operate, he added: "You can't be out of the EU and getting all the benefits of the single market. That is a clear red line for France."

Chancellor Philip Hammond declined to rule out quitting if Theresa May decided to back a no-deal Brexit.

Asked repeatedly on Today whether he would remain in the UK's top financial post in that scenario, he said: "I'm not going to speculate because a lot depends on the circumstances, what happens.

"The responsibility I have is to manage the economy in what is the best interests of the British people.

"I clearly do not believe that making a choice to leave without a deal would be a responsible thing to do, but I recognise that that is potentially a default that we could find ourselves in, and if we did find ourselves in that position then the responsible thing to do is to use every possible way of mitigating and minimising the impact."

Hammond put some distance between himself and MPs including Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd – who has also declined to rule out quitting over no-deal – over the importance of Tuesday's vote on Brexit amendments.

He told Today: "What Amber is doing is reflecting a view among some of my colleagues that somehow next Tuesday is high noon, the last chance to make a stand against no-deal.

"I don't think that is the case, I don't think next Tuesday has to be, or indeed will be the high noon of this debate.

"Parliament will want to be confident that it will have an opportunity to express its clear view and some of my colleagues, including some who are in Government, will want to be able to express their view.

"But I don't think next Tuesday is the point when this comes to a head."

Hammond showed the depth of the row inside the Cabinet over a no-deal Brexit, doubling down on his warnings about the damage it would cause to the economy.

He told Today: "What people were told in the referendum campaign, the majority who voted to leave, they were told that we would be able to get a deal with the European Union, that that would protect our jobs and our prosperity and that our exit could be smooth and orderly to a new relationship with the European Union.

"But it is absolutely clear that if we don't get a deal that is not the way it will work.

"There will be very significant disruption in the short term and a very significant hit to our economy in the medium to long term.

"Our job is to deliver the British people what they believe they were promised in that referendum, to make sure we respect the decision of the referendum but do it in a way that gives them the future prosperity they were promised."

Hammond added: "The ... disruption that we would expect would happen around the no-deal exit will be short term.

"It will settle down, we will find ways of managing things like the additional time it takes for trucks to get through the border.

"But it might take us quite a while to sort that out. So there will be a short-term impact through disruption, there will be a long-term impact through a reduction in the size of our economy.

"That is not what people voted for. People did not vote to be worse off, they voted to be better off and they were told that was possible and it is our job to try to deliver on that for them."

Hammond warned "I don't believe the European Union is simply going to remove the backstop", but added that, while some hardline Brexiteers demanded this, others took a more nuanced approach.

Some, he said, backed a time-limited backstop and others backed an exit mechanism.

He added: "What I hear from European politicians and commentators that I have talked to here in Davos is that there is a process going on, of thinking very hard about where the EU had drawn its red lines, whether they really need to be in the place where they have been drawn."

Ireland's PM Leo Varadkar has said Ireland is being victimised in the Brexit process.

Speaking on Bloomberg TV, Mr Varadkar said Ireland had already compromised in the Brexit negotiations and that withdrawal of the UK from the EU was potentially going to cause a lot of harm to other countries.

"We're the ones already giving," Varadkar said.

"The UK wanted a review clause in the backstop and we agreed to that, the UK wanted a UK-wide element, so why is it the country that is being victimised is the one that's always asked to give?"

Conservative backbencher Nick Boles accused Philip Hammond of being "dangerously complacent" after the Chancellor said that January 29 was not "high noon" for Brexit.

Writing on Twitter, Boles said: "This is dangerously complacent of the Chancellor. The amendment proposed by Yvette Cooper and myself is the only chance that MPs will have to compel the Government to seek an extension.

"If it fails, we will all have to rely on the PM choosing to do so."

The Taoiseach said he had not yet seen any technologies that could solve the border issue and that Ireland would not be giving up the backstop for a promise that it would be dealt with later.

Varadkar said: "They don't exist and nobody has been able to show them to me.

"Why would we give up a legal guarantee and something we know will work in practice for a promise to sort it out later, or a promise to invent technologies? That's just not a serious position.

"People who say they're against a hard border and also against a backstop. That's a contradiction."

Speaking from Davos where he is attending the World Economic Forum, Varadkar said it was "very unlikely" that Brexit would never happen.

He said Ireland and the EU could "help" the negotiations.

"We could work with a Norway-plus model. We could work with a Canada model with special arrangements for Northern Ireland," Varadkar said.

"But ultimately it's the people who caused all this and started this who have to come up with the solutions. We can help."

He added that the EU would be "open to making changes" to the Political Declaration on the future relationship between the UK and the EU.