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As it happenedended1566496437

Brexit news - LIVE: Macron tells Boris Johnson backstop is 'indispensable' and says new Withdrawal Agreement 'cannot be found within 30 days'

Follow all the latest developments

Adam Forrest,Lizzy Buchan
Thursday 22 August 2019 18:53 BST
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Boris Johnson and Angela Merkel sit in silence while protesters shout 'stop Brexit!'

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

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Good morning and welcome to The Independent's live coverage of events at Westminster and beyond, as the Boris Johnson heads off to Paris for Brexit talks with Emmanuel Macron.

Adam Forrest22 August 2019 08:15
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Here’s our Europe correspondent Jon Stone on Angela Merkel’s remarks about “solving this conundrum” over the Irish backstop in the next 30 days.

Adam Forrest22 August 2019 08:39
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Jeremy Corbyn has invited the leaders of other political parties, senior opposition MPs and leading Tory rebels to meet urgently to discuss their strategy to thwart a no-deal Brexit in parliament.

The Labour leader has pledged that “all tactics” are on the table after meeting resistance last week to his plan to lead a caretaker government and call a general election.

He has cancelled a four-day trip to Ghana to stay at home and focus on the Brexit crisis.

Adam Forrest22 August 2019 08:42
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Emmanuel Macron has had a lot to say ahead of lunchtime talks with Boris Johnson today.

The French president told reporters the demands made by British PM to remove the Irish backstop were not workable. He also warned that a no-deal crash out would leave the UK a client state of the US.

“Can the cost for Britain of a hard Brexit - because Britain will be the main victim - be offset by the United States of America? No. And even if it were a strategic choice it would be at the cost of a historic vassalisation of Britain,” he said.

“I don’t think this is what Boris Johnson wants. I don’t think it is what the British people want.”

Sticking to his previous hard line on Brexit, Macron said he would not accept renegotiating the Withdrawal Agreement agreed between Johnson’s predecessor and the bloc, and dropping the backstop.

“Why won't we accept it? It’s simple: because what Boris Johnson suggests in his letter to president (Donald) Tusk is ... to choose between the integrity of the single market and respecting the Good Friday Agreement.”

“We won’t chose between the two. We won’t jeopardise peace in Ireland, that would be one of the consequences of dropping the so-called backstop,” he said.

An official at the Élysée Palace also said French now think a no-deal Brexit “the most likely” outcome and said the UK would still have to pay £39bn divorce settlement regardless of how we leave.

Adam Forrest22 August 2019 08:48
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The Congressional Friends of Ireland – a group in the US Congress which promotes peace in Northern Ireland – has said a post-Brexit UK-US trade deal would be “highly unlikely” if there is a return of  hard border on the island.

Here’s all the details.

Adam Forrest22 August 2019 09:01
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It would take “a miracle” for Britain and the EU to find a solution to the Irish border problem to avoid a no-deal Brexit, according to Luxembourg’s foreign minister Jean Asselborn.

“Miracles should never be ruled out, but I’m sceptical we can simply pluck something out of the air that guarantees Ireland has no hard border and at the same time the EU has control over what enters its market,” he told German broadcaster SWR.

He added: “I’m not convinced that we can for sure say today a no-deal Brexit is coming, but we must clearly outline the dangers of a no-deal Brexit and Boris Johnson should do so too.”

Adam Forrest22 August 2019 09:06
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International trade secretary Liz Truss said the UK and South Korea will sign a continuity Free Trade Agreement that will allow businesses to keep trading freely if the UK leaves the EU on 31 October.

The deal with protect annual trade flows between the two countries worth £14.6bn in 2018.

The Department for International Trade said continuity agreements so far now cover countries accounting for £89bn of trade, an increase from £39bn in March 2019.

Adam Forrest22 August 2019 09:20
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David Davis has adopted No 10’s argument that the EU officials aren’t playing ball because they believe rebel MPs in parliament won’t allow a no-deal Brexit to happen.

The former Brexit secretary claimed: “The European Union is unlikely to really commit to that last stage serious negotiations until they are persuaded that parliament won’t rescue them.

“Once we get through the September sitting it’ll be clear you can’t block no deal and it’ll be clear there’s no majority for replacing Boris Johnson as prime minister … and then the game gets very serious.”

Adam Forrest22 August 2019 09:31
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Emmanuel Macron has said the UK can revoke Article 50 and cancel Brexit “up the last second” of the 31 October deadline.

Ashley Cowburn has more on the French president’s warnings ahead of lunchtime talks with Boris Johnson today.

Adam Forrest22 August 2019 09:40
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Northern Ireland police chief Simon Byrne has warned that a “hard” Brexit could become a “trigger point” for people to join extremist groups.

“At the moment our worry is that speculation around different forms of Brexit and the political vacuum we operate in here, the lack of a [Northern Ireland] executive, becomes a breeding ground for dissent hate,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“The fear is that if there is a hard Brexit, the way this could play out across different communities in Northern Ireland, could become a trigger and a fuelling point for more people to join either side of the debate – in terms of the [extremist] loyalist side or the [extremist] Republican side.”

Adam Forrest22 August 2019 09:58

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