UPDATE 1-Irish foreign minister says new UK PM could change 'Brexit package'

The European Union will not renegotiate a withdrawal agreement with the next British prime minister, but there is "scope for new thinking" on the wider Brexit package, Ireland's foreign minister said on Thursday.

Brexit is up in the air after Prime Minister Theresa May announced plans to step down, triggering a leadership contest in the ruling Conservative Party that could bring a new prime minister to power who wants a more decisive EU divorce. Asked if there was any chance the divisive Northern Ireland "backstop" protocol in the withdrawal agreement could be tweaked in a deal with a new prime minister, Simon Coveney said the withdrawal agreement could not be changed.

"The EU has made clear that the withdrawal agreement itself isn't up for renegotiation, but that doesn't mean that the Brexit package can't change," he told journalists in Belfast. "The EU has always said it will try to accommodate the UK if they want to change the future relationship political declaration and change the level of ambition that they want as regards the future relationship between the UK and the EU.

"There is scope there for new thinking. We just have to wait and see the approach that the new prime minister takes." The backstop, which requires Britain to adopt some EU rules indefinitely unless a future arrangement is found to keep open the land border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, was a major reason May failed to secure parliamentary backing for her withdrawal deal.