Boris Johnson news - live: Leo Varadkar says Brexit talks making progress but gap between two sides 'still quite wide' as deadline looms
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Leo Varadkar has announced that Brexit talks are "making progress" but that the gap between the UK and EU is "still quite wide".
Negotiators are racing to conclude an agreement in time for a key EU summit on Thursday, but the Finnish prime minister warned on Tuesday that there was no "practical or legal way" to strike a deal by then. That was rejected by No10, although Boris Johnson's spokesman refused to put a deadline on talks reaching a conclusion.
Earlier, the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, reportedly told EU27 ministers in Luxembourg that the latest UK proposals were “not yet good enough”. Barnier is said to have told ministers an agreement would have to be reached by the end of Tuesday.
It comes as Emmanuel Macron is said to have raised the possibility of a “technical extension” in a call with the PM. British negotiators, meanwhile, have put forward new proposals in bid to break the deadlock with the European Commission.
Good morning and welcome to The Independent's live coverage of events at Westminster.
Is Boris Johnson set to run out of time to forge a Brexit deal?
Finland’s Prime Minister Antti Rinne, whose government currently holds the rotating EU presidency, warned there was no “practical or legal way” to find an agreement before Thursday’s meeting of EU leaders in Brussels – while Spain’s foreign minister said “more time” could be needed.
Simon Coveney, the Irish deputy prime minister, also suggested on Monday that talks might have to “move into next week” though he said it was “too early to say”.
Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, has spoken to reporters as he arrived for at the General Affairs Council in Luxembourg.
“I will de-brief the EU 27 ministers as usual, and just to tell them where we are, where we stand today,” he said.
He said the work to secure a deal has been “intense”, adding: “Because even if an agreement will be difficult, more and more difficult to be frank, it is still possible this week.”
Barnier said: “Reaching an agreement is still possible. Obviously any agreement must work for everyone, the whole of the United Kingdom and the whole of the European Union.
“Let me add also that it is high time to turn good intentions into a legal text.”
British negotiators are set to put forward new proposals in bid to break the deadlock with their European Commission counterparts in Brussels, according to RTE.
The Irish media network’s Europe editor Tony Connelly said it’s “not clear yet if the proposals are a revised
version of the dual customs scheme … or whether they are something much different.”
It is believed the outlined of deal discussed by Boris Johnson and Leo Vardkar last week features a customs partnership or “dual customs scheme” that would ensure Northern Ireland is legally part of the UK’s customs territory, while in practice customs checks would take place at Irish Sea ports.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has said government plans to make voters produce photo ID at polling stations are “clearly discriminatory” and will disproportionately affect ethnic minorities.
All the details here.
Environment minister Zac Goldsmith has rejected the idea of any extension to seal a Brexit deal in the weeks after 31 October.
European diplomats have been discussing a possible emergency EU summit later this month forge a final deal. If the outline of deal is in place, there is a speculation Boris Johnson might need a short “technical” extension beyond 31 October to allow for the final details to be arranged.
“I don’t think an extension is necessary. If both sides wish to secure a deal, a deal can be secured,” Goldsmith told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“It’s a matter of political will. Where there’s a will there is a way, and that has never been more true than in the case of Brexit.
“And I think it is really important that we don't continue to extend and extend and extend which is what we’ve been doing for the last few years, because there are issues of trust there.
“But even beyond issues of trust I don’t think it serves our interest as a country to be in a permanent state of division and paralysis.
“We’ve got to get this done and October the 31st matters.”
The BBC’s Adam Fleming says UK negotiators shared new proposals with their EU counterparts yesterday.
Nathalie Loiseau, a French politician from Emmanuel Macron’s En Marche! party, was asked if she could see a scenario in which the broad outline of an agreement was reached, with legal texts to come later.
“An agreement can only be detailed, credible, sustainable. And we have to have clarity on every single aspect,” she told the Today programme, adding that it “has to be able to last”.
She was also asked about talk of a new UK proposals which reportedly acknowledges some of the EU’s concerns about the new customs arrangement, she said: “This is a rumour, and we have dozens of rumours every day. A lot of leaks and a very hectic way of communicating.”
Loiseau said there is “a lot of goodwill and a lot of caution at the same time”.
On the issue of the backstop agreed by Theresa May, she said it was “the result of two years of hard work and goodwill”.
She added: “You don’t replace it in one minute. This is a very serious issue. It has consequences on lives of many people on both sides of the Channel. So goodwill, yes, but to rush to a deal in any circumstance, certainly not.”
Former Tory leadership contender Jeremy Hunt has also been asked about the idea of a short “technical” extension to the 31 October deadline to finalise a Brexit deal.
“I think it’s going to be very difficult to get a deal with all the legislation through Parliament by October 31, which is why I didn’t want to offer that guarantee during the leadership campaign in the summer, but I still hope it happens.
“And I still think, for the first time, if there is a deal, and, frankly, if we needed an extension of a few days, I think people would just feel the end is in sight and that's the important thing.”
Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, has said he believes Boris Johnson can get a deal through parliament if an agreement is reached with the EU.
“The votes are now there for a deal,” he told LBC.
He suggested the agreement emerging was more than “Mrs May’s deal with a cherry on top … I don’t like cherries very much.”
Rees-Mogg also suggested he would “surprised” if the DUP weren’t on board with Johnson’s Brexit proposals.
Yet the DUP’s Brexit spokesman Sammy Wilson, when asked about Rees-Mogg’s weekend comments on “eating his own words” by backing a customs partnership he once branded “completely cretinous”, said he was not similarly flexible.
Wilson said yesterday: “Whatever appetite he has for his own words or whatever, we will not be eating our own words. Our position is clear, the government knows what our position is and we will not be dining from a different menu.”
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