diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 391ec8842c104adf024aa694652d3cef1fe7e51e..d5d6ffecf06abd78bf85daff4971eb3e1d714504 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@ Role Variables
 ::
 
     extra_tls_certs: [] # List of filenames of TLS certs to be added.
-    backports: False # To enable Debian backports repos.
     ssh_ca: # TBD.
     syslog_server: # The address of syslog server to forward.
     tls_cert: # Filename of the TLS cert for that host.
diff --git a/tasks/backports.yml b/tasks/backports.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 4f9687c433eaa7a20e3bd254a398bff5372ec1fe..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/tasks/backports.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,24 +0,0 @@
----
-
-- name: Assert
-  assert:
-    that:
-    - ansible_os_family == 'Debian'
-    - ansible_distribution_release in [ 'wheezy', 'jessie', 'trusty', 'precise', 'squeeze' ]
-
-- name: Add backports repositories
-  with_items:
-    - deb
-    - deb-src
-  apt_repository:
-    repo: '{{ item }} {{ backports_repo[ansible_distribution_release] }}'
-    state: present
-    update_cache: yes
-
-- name: Add repo priority pinning
-  template:
-    src: backports.j2
-    dest: /etc/apt/preferences.d/backports
-    owner: root
-    group: root
-    mode: 0o0644
diff --git a/tasks/main.yml b/tasks/main.yml
index c0001f391a918b8d41c24abefd8249f7ea658fd8..c1de7d84423c9a8ea5b00263153c9875b0fd21a4 100644
--- a/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/tasks/main.yml
@@ -5,9 +5,6 @@
   assert:
     that: ansible_os_family in [ 'Debian', 'OpenBSD' ]
 
-- include: backports.yml
-  when: backports|default(False) and ansible_os_family == 'Debian' and not common_role_finished is defined
-
 - include: tls_cert.yml
   when: tls_cert|default(True) and not common_role_finished is defined
 
diff --git a/templates/backports.j2 b/templates/backports.j2
deleted file mode 100644
index 8519453ad63f6ec24e586153de5d98ae2208d270..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/templates/backports.j2
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-Package: *
-Pin: release a={{ ansible_distribution_release }}-backports
-Pin-Priority: 500
diff --git a/vars/main.yml b/vars/main.yml
index d6069519b05101f36345894413566ba71adc13b8..80a93d1ee59372751ae43b1475e35f3a495feed8 100644
--- a/vars/main.yml
+++ b/vars/main.yml
@@ -8,13 +8,6 @@ debian_suite:
   stretch: testing
   sid: unstable
 
-backports_repo:
-  squeeze: http://httpredir.debian.org/debian-backports squeeze-backports main
-  wheezy: http://httpredir.debian.org/debian wheezy-backports main
-  jessie: http://httpredir.debian.org/debian jessie-backports main
-  precise: http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise-backports main universe multiverse
-  trusty: http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu trusty-backports main universe multiverse
-
 ca_store:
     OpenBSD: /etc/ssl/cert.pem
     Debian: /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt