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.
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Senior Tory MP Sir Graham Brady says the talks are entering their "endgame" and the pressure of no-deal Brexit is finally there.
The former 1922 Committee chairman told BBC's PM programme: "The pressure now is there in a way that I don't think it really was until this point to push the EU side into being prepared to negotiate and to find that settlement."
Sir Graham said any Tory MP who opposed the government in a confidence vote would have the whip removed.
Emmanuel Macron now wants to force Britain out of the EU – and fast, argues Sean O'Grady in The Independent.
He writes: "The French cannot build the Europe they desire with Britain in the club. The president that if Britain remained it would always be a moaning, reluctant drag on his ambition for ‘more Europe’."
More here:
Jeremy Corbyn has said Boris Johnson should delay the Brexit deadline to secure a deal with the EU.
Speaking on a visit to a hill farm in Cumbria, the Labour leader said: "There's no need for this October 31 deadline to be there.
"Boris Johnson could perfectly easily take much longer to negotiate, much longer to talk about it, listen to what other people are saying instead of holding this cudgel to everyone's head saying, it's got to be done by October 31 with all the damage that will do to our farming communities.
"And the threat of a no-deal is actually a deal with Donald Trump, is a deal with the USA, is one which would bring about deregulation of our consumer rights, our environmental protections and our rights at work.
"I think that is a really dangerous threat and that is the threat that should be foremost in people's minds."
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