EU and UK remain deadlocked on Irish Border plans

The EU and UK remain as far apart as ever on the Irish Border backstop after the latest round of Brexit negotiations which concluded in Brussels on Friday.

At talks between the UK Brexit secretary Dominic Rabb and the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier, the EU side sought details of how border controls in the UK will work.

Both sides have pledged to maintain an open border in Ireland but have made no progress on agreeing how it would work.

“There is an urgent necessity to work on the text of an operational backstop,” Mr Barnier said at a press conference after the talks had concluded.

“To that end I have asked Dominic and his team to give us the necessary data required for the technical work that we have to do now on the nature, the location and the modalities of the controls that will be necessary.

“The backstop is critical to conclude these negotiations. As I have already said, without a backstop there is no agreement.”