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.
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An EU official who has access to information about the Brexit talks says the major issue blocking a deal — how to handle the Irish border — "is close to being resolved."
Negotiators from the European Union and Britain were scrambling Tuesday at talks in Brussels to craft a deal so the UK can leave the bloc as scheduled on October 31 with a Brexit deal in place.
The EU official said the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, told a teleconference of lawmakers that the Irish Sea would largely become the customs border between the EU and the UK. That would avoid having a visible land border on the island of Ireland between the two but put Northern Ireland in a special position.
The official said "talks are active and ongoing and a positive result is still possible," adding that negotiators were working on a political declaration of intent, not yet a legally binding document. He said "several complex technical issues still have to be resolved."
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were ongoing.
More optimism about a possible Brexit deal is emerging from Brussels.
EU officials are hopeful that a Brexit deal could be agreed, in outline, in hours.
But the bloc still wants the British government to make further compromises.
Martin Schirdewan, a German member of the European Parliament's Brexit Steering Group, said an agreement is "now within our grasp" following a breakthrough in negotiations.
The DUP is insisting that any agreed Brexit deal allows Northern Ireland to remain within the UK's custom union.
"We want to get a deal but it has to be a deal that respects the economic and constitutional integrity of the United Kingdom and that means all of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland included," Arlene Foster, the DUP's leader, told BBC Northern Ireland.
"I think it's very important that we say that we must remain within the United Kingdom customs union, it's a principle that has always been there and a principle that will forever be there. We have to be entirely within the United Kingdom.
"What we have to see is flexibility from the European Union, just as we have shown flexibility around the single market regulations... People have to get real and have to understand that we are part of the United Kingdom, will remain part of the United Kingdom and there has to be respect for that."
Meanwhile, the leader of the SNP has said her party will never accept Boris Johnson's Brexit plans.
Nicola Sturgeon told her party conference on Tuesday that Scottish voters opposed leaving the EU.
"What leaders like Boris Johnson and Donald Trump have in common is this — a belief that nothing should be allowed to stand in the way of their own self-interest," she said.
"Not facts or evidence. Not the rule of law. Not democracy."
DUP leader Arlene Foster has said it is likely she will meet Boris Johnson tonight.
"I'm sure we will indeed be engaging with the Prime Minister later on this evening," she told RTE News.
When asked if they would meet at Downing street, she said: "It may well be, who knows."
The politician said speculation about a Northern Ireland-only backstop in today's Brexit discussions is "far off the mark".
"There has to be consent which is in accordance with the Belfast agreement in other words there has to be consent from the Nationalist community and the Unionist community," she said.
"And so those things are very important and when I hear talk of the Northern Ireland backstop as I did in your headlines... I think the things are very far off the mark in terms of all of that.
"But it is important that we do work together to get a deal and we will be working certainly with the Government to try and make that happen."
↵"Boris Johnson and the EU appear to be on the brink of a new Brexit deal in Brussels, with last-ditch talks continuing late into the night to meet a Wednesday deadline," reports Jon Stone, The Independent's Brussels correspondent.
"Speaking on Tuesday an optimistic Leo Varadkar even suggested that there might be no need for an Article 50 extension if an agreement could be sealed ahead of a make-or-break summit later this week.
"If negotiators reach an agreement a draft text could be published on Wednesday, ready for EU leaders to approve at the upcoming European Council summit on Thursday - followed by parliamentary scrutiny in Westminster on Saturday."
Read more here:
Arlene Foster, the DUP's leader, has entered the Cabinet Office alongside Nigel Dodds, the party's general secretary.
The pair refused to answer questions from the waiting media.
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