BORIS Johnson yesterday unveiled his five-point plan to end the Brexit deadlock.
The PM hailed his proposals as a “fair and reasonable compromise” as he also rallied the Tory faithful by declaring Britain was ready to go it alone.
His plan will replace the hated Irish backstop, which has been rejected repeatedly by MPs.
Mr Johnson told the Tory party conference in Manchester: “Yes, this is a compromise by the UK.
“And I hope very much that our friends understand that and compromise in their turn.”
But his ideas were rebuffed by Ireland leader Leo Varadkar whose support is needed to get a deal.
He said: “What we are hearing is not encouraging and would not be the basis for agreement.”
Mr Johnson’s five points, set out in a letter to the EU, are:
The PM used his first conference speech as party leader to tee up his ideas.
But he again asserted that Britain would leave the EU on October 31 “come what may”.
Mr Johnson also bluntly declared “the alternative is No Deal”.
He told the conference: “That is not an outcome we want. It is not an outcome we seek at all. But let me tell you this conference, it is an outcome for which we are ready.”
The PM was cheered wildly by the party faithful and he whipped them up by saluting British willingness to buck the trend.
The alternative is no deal...an outcome for which we are ready.
Boris Johnson
Mr Johnson said: “When the whole world had succumbed to a different fashion, this country and this party pioneered ideas of free markets and privatisation that spread across the planet.
“Every one of them was controversial, every one of them was difficult but we have always had the courage to be original, to do things differently and now we are about to take another giant step.”
His document asserts that Northern Ireland should leave the EU’s customs union alongside the rest of the UK at the start of 2021.
But it will continue to follow Brussels rules on goods, as well as food and livestock.
That was a surprise departure from the Government’s three-year insistence on the same rules for all of the UK.
It would keep an open Irish border with only stand-off checks.
No10 insisted they could be done on factory or depot floors so there would be no need for any infrastructure on or near the border — a key requirement of the Good Friday peace agreement.
A key caveat is that the people of Northern Ireland must consent to it within nine months — either through a vote in the Stormont assembly or in a referendum.
There will also be a vote to keep the arrangement or ditch it every four years.
The customs proposal will face the hardest sell, as the principles of the alternative arrangements have already been rejected by the Irish.
But it emerged that the PM secured the support of the DUP for his offer during a secret meeting on Tuesday night at the conference.
The DUP, which props up Mr Johnson’s government, was reportedly won over by a cash bung potentially worth billions of pounds, to be called a New Deal for Northern Ireland.
DUP leader Arlene Foster called it “a serious and sensible way forward”.
The PM spelled out the terms of his deal in a letter to EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
In the letter, Mr Johnson described it as “the broad landing zone” for an agreement, suggesting he was prepared to shift position on some of the details.
He also told Mr Juncker that the deal he was proposing would succeed only if “there is sufficient willingness to compromise and move beyond existing positions”.
And he warned there was “very little time” left, as a deal must be in place before the October 17 summit of EU leaders.
Mr Johnson last night followed up his letter with a call to Mr Juncker, as well as to Mr Varadkar and Germany leader Angela Merkel.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn dismissed the proposals as “worse than Theresa May’s deal”.
He added: “I can’t see it getting the support that he thinks it will get.”
But Tory Eurosceptics in the ERG, whose support the PM needs, welcomed them. Deputy chair Mark Francois said: “If it means we leave, we will vote for it.”
BORIS Johnson said last night he will suspend Parliament next Tuesday to pave the way for the Queen’s Speech six days later.
The PM needs to shut down Parliament to set out his legislative program.
Mr Johnson said he was sticking with plans to hold the Queen’s Speech on October 14, meaning MPs won’t sit from October 9 to then.
CBI director-general Dame Carolyn Fairbairn said: “The UK is at a crossroads. This vision relies on a good Brexit deal.
"The No Deal turning ends in a very different place: a swamp that will slow the UK’s every step for years to come.”
She added: “There are 21 working days to go to get a deal and not a second to waste.”
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