Brexit news - LIVE: Macron tells Boris Johnson backstop is 'indispensable' and says new Withdrawal Agreement 'cannot be found within 30 days'
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Emmanuel Macron has told Boris Johnson that the Irish border backstop is "indispensable" to any Brexit deal as the prime minister travelled to Paris for crucial talks on the shape of the UK's departure from the EU.
Speaking on the steps of the Elysee Palace, the French president poured cold water on the prospect of changes to the deal, saying: “We cannot find a new Withdrawal Agreement within 30 days.”
The exchange comes after German chancellor Angela Merkel suggested a solution to the Brexit crisis could be found if the PM came up with workable alternatives to the backstop “in the next 30 days”.
Ms Merkel later clarified her remarks to say it was not meant to be a firm deadline, only “an example” to show how little time was left before 31 October.
See below for live updates
Here’s our political sketch writer Tom Peck’s take on the Johnson-Merkel summit.
Immigration to the UK from the European Union has remained at its lowest level since 2013, according to the latest estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
In the year ending March 2019, EU immigration was estimated to be 200,000. This is the lowest since the year ending June 2013 when it was an estimated 183,000.
The figures are classed as experimental estimates and come a day after the ONS admitted it had been underestimating some EU net migration data since 2016.
The error affected figures on the number of migrants from EU8 countries – like Poland – since 2016 and migration from countries outside the EU has been over-stated, the ONS said.
As a result it has been forced to downgrade the status of its immigration data from “national statistics” – which requires a high degree of accuracy and reliability – to experimental.
Norbert Röttgen, chair of the German parliament’s foreign affairs committee, does not sound optimistic about Boris Johnson coming up with a workable alternative to the backstop.
The senior Christian Democratic Union (CDU) politician told Channel 4 News: “I can only state the reality that . . . since years now, nobody has found a solution.”
Despite his party’s leader encouraging rhetoric, Röttgen also claimed Johnson’s government remains “determined to push through” a no-deal Brexit.
Julian Reichelt – editor-in-chief of leading German newspaper Bild – thinks Angela Merkel is already planning ahead for a series of “side agreements” with Britain after a no-deal exit on 31 October.
Boris Johnson may have seized on Angela Merkel’s “30 days” remark as evidence a new Brexit deal could be done. But not everyone is buying it.
One senior official has said the bloc “needs to take the possibility of a no-deal outcome much more seriously than before”, according to Sky News’ Europe producer.
Robert Peston has clarified his remarks that the Boris Johnson-Angela Merkel summit has “pulled the rug” from under MPs opposed to a no-deal Brexit.
The ITV broadcaster says he believes it’s only a very superficial victory that allows Johnson to tell wavering Tory MPs he’s doing something.
Alister Jack has said there is an “historic opportunity” for Scotland in Brexit as he affirmed his support for Boris Johnson.
The Scottish secretary has claimed the PM’s plan for Britain to leave the EU on October 31 is as a chance to introduce new funding mechanism for farming.
Jack also launched an attack on Scottish nationalism in his column for The Times. “Scottish nationalists like to claim that theirs is a different kind of nationalism, somehow uniquely benign.
“I’m sorry but I’m not sure I can spot the difference. Like nationalist movements the world over, it requires an enemy to make it thrive. It needs an ‘other’ to rail against.”
Remind you of any other blame game going on at the moment?
SNP MP Tommy Sheppard said: “This is utterly desperate stuff from Boris Johnson’s man in Scotland.”
Boris Johnson claimed during his appearance alongside Angela Merkel that there was “ample scope” to find a workable alternative to the backstop and reach a new Brexit deal.
So what’s Johnson’s plan for a “backstop-ectomy”, as he puts it?
He has yet to set out in detail how he proposes to get around the Irish border problem, but used his joint press conference with Merkel to highlight the report drawn up by the Alternative Arrangements Commission, a panel established by the Prosperity UK think tank.
That commission, led by senior Tories Greg Hands and Nicky Morgan, produced a 268-page report in July which recommended a series of administrative and technological measures.
Under their plans special “enhanced economic zones” could straddle the border between Londonderry and Donegal and possibly also Newry and Dundalk, with tax breaks and a free trade zone to avoid duties.
If the regimes on plant and animal regulations diverge, mobile units could be used to carry out sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) checks away from the border.
Trusted trader regimes would allow firms to cut down on paperwork and potentially avoid routine customs checks at the border.
Our Europe correspondent Jon Stone is outside the Elysee Palace awaiting Boris Johnson’s arrival. As you can see, the British PM’s visit has Paris buzzing.
Brexit was supposed to be immigration, at least partly. New statistics show the number of EU citizens moving to the UK for work has actually halved since the divisive 2016 referendum.
Here’s our home affairs correspondent Lizzie Dearden with more on the latest ONS figures.
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