Ireland’s Leo Varadkar has announced he is stepping down as prime minister.

Mr Varadkar, 45, has led the Fine Gael party since 2017 and served as Taoiseach twice.

His first stint leading the country lasted from 2017 to 2020, before he took up the role as Tanaiste – deputy prime minister – from 2020 until December 2022.

He has been the Irish premier since then in a “rotating Taoiseach” agreement that underpinned his party’s coalition with Fianna Fail and the Green Party.

Mr Varadkar became the first openly gay Taoiseach after he came out during the 2015 marriage equality referendum.

It comes as the Irish government was defeated in twin referendums earlier this month.

Almost 74% of voters rejected the care amendment, which proposed removing references to a woman’s “life within the home” and mothers’ “duties in the home” when providing care, replacing them with an article acknowledging the importance of family members in general, without defining them by gender.

Some 67.7% of voters rejected the second amendment, which had proposed extending the meaning of “family” beyond marriage in the constitution, instead including households based on “durable” relationships.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app. You can also follow @SkyNews on X or subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.