Boris Johnson and Irish leader Leo Varadkar hold talks on backstop as EU insists they must strike a deal
BORIS Johnson held Brexit talks with Ireland’s boss last night after EU chiefs told him it was crucial the pair strike a deal.
The PM tried again to thrash out a replacement to the Irish backstop with Leo Varadkar last night.
The pair met on the side lines of a UN summit in New York.
At a similar meeting on Monday, The Sun has learned EU Council president Donald Tusk told Boris it was vital that he win round The Taoiseach to his alternative plan – and then Brussels is likely to also endorse it.
Aides said Mr Johnson and Mr Varadkar locked horns last night on the ‘consent principle’, which means given the Northern Ireland Assembly a veto on any divergence in rules from the rest of the UK.
The Irish boss said afterwards: "It was a good meeting. No agreements by any means, but we got into some more details.
“But there is still a very wide gap between the EU and UK achieving what we need to achieve by October."
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A Downing Street spokeswoman added: “They discussed the ideas that the UK has been putting forward, including on the issue of consent.
“The leaders agreed to stay in close contact in coming days.”
Mr Johnson also saw Dutch PM Mark Rutte for Brexit talks last night.
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