Brexit news latest: Boris Johnson says he will enter talks with EU leaders ‘with a lot of oomph’ despite backstop differences

Boris Johnson has said he will enter talks with EU leaders "with a lot of oomph” as differences between the UK and EU's position over the Withdrawal Agreement remain.

The Prime Minister is due to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Wednesday before meeting French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris the following day.

Speaking to Sky News on Tuesday, Mr Johnson reiterated his opposition to the Northern Irish backstop, saying: "The existing agreement just doesn't work for the UK. And Parliament has thrown it out three times. We can't have this backstop.

"So I'm going to go to see our friends and partners - I'm going off to Germany and then to France, and then to see the G7 at Biarritz, and I'm going to make the point that the backstop is going to come out.

"I think there is a real sense now that something needs to be done with this backstop. We can't get it through Parliament as it is.

"So I'm going to go at it with a lot of oomph as you'd expect and will be making some progress in the next few weeks."

On Monday, Mr Johnson wrote to European Council President Donald Tusk to say that the backstop - the contingency plan to avoid a hard border with Ireland - should be removed from the divorce deal ahead of the October 31 Brexit deadline.

But Mr Tusk defended the measure and warned that scrapping it risked a return to a hard border in Ireland.

Mr Tusk said: "The backstop is an insurance to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland unless and until an alternative is found.

"Those against the backstop and not proposing realistic alternatives in fact support re-establishing a border. Even if they do not admit it."

Downing Street said that unless the backstop is abolished "there is no prospect of a deal".

Responding to Mr Tusk, Mr Johnson said: "We think there is a big opportunity now for everybody to come together, take out that backstop."

He added: "We will be looking at all the ways in which we can maintain frictionless trade at the Northern Irish border - whether it's trusted trader schemes, or electronic pre-clearing, or whatever it happens to be, all that kind of thing, checks away from the border, points of sale or whatever if you have to crack down on smuggling, all that kind of thing - but we will come up with those solutions, or agree those solutions I should say, in the context of the free-trade agreement.

"That's the way we are going to approach it. And you know what, at the moment it is absolutely true that our friends and partners are a bit negative.

"I saw what Donald Tusk had to say and it wasn't relevant of a sense of optimism. But I think actually we will get there."

Officials in Brussels privately accused Mr Johnson of making "incorrect" and "misleading" claims about the situation.

In public comments, the European Commission said the Prime Minister had failed to put forward a "legal, operational solution" to the issue and had acknowledged that if one could be found it might not be ready in time.

In his letter, Mr Johnson said while he wants the UK to leave the EU with a deal, he could not support a withdrawal agreement that "locks the UK" into a potentially indefinite customs union and applies single-market legislation in Northern Ireland.

As an alternative to the backstop, the Prime Minister said the UK would agree to a "legally binding commitment" not to put in place infrastructure, checks or controls at the border with Ireland and would hope the EU did the same.

The backstop should be replaced with a commitment to put in place "alternative arrangements", as far as possible before the end of the transition period, as part of the future relationship between the UK and EU.

http://players.brightcove.net/1348423965/default_default/index.html?videoId=6074746830001

EU Commission's Natasha Bertaud responds to Backstop letter

But European Commission spokeswoman Natasha Bertaud said the letter "does not provide a legal, operational solution to prevent the return of a hard border on the island of Ireland".

"It does not set out what any alternative arrangements could be and in fact it recognises that there is no guarantee that such arrangements will be in place by the end of the transitional period," she said.

An official briefing note circulated among diplomats from the member states made clear the EU's frustration with Mr Johnson's approach.

The document disputes Mr Johnson's claims about the Good Friday Agreement and the Irish border.

Any attempt to remove the "vital insurance policy" of the backstop would also be rejected by MEPs, European Parliament's Brexit co-ordinator Guy Verhofstadt indicated.

"The time for bluster & political blame games is fast running out," he added.