UK appeals to EU leaders to engage on Brexit deal

The UK on Monday appealed to European leaders to show “greater engagement” with Britain’s proposal for a new Brexit deal, as Boris Johnson struggles to persuade the bloc to enter detailed negotiations.

A Downing Street spokesman admitted there were no immediate plans for face-to-face meetings between the prime minister and his EU counterparts this week.

The statement came as a Scottish court on Monday rejected antiBrexit campaigners’ demands that it force Mr Johnson to abide by a law that requires him to seek a delay to the UK’S departure from the EU if he has not finalised a withdrawal agreement by October 19. Brexit is currently scheduled to take place on October 31.

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On Monday, Mr Johnson will hold phone conversations with his counterparts in Denmark, Sweden and Poland.

But it had been expected that Mr Johnson would embark on a tour of European capitals in the run-up to an EU leaders’ summit on October 17-18 where the prime minister was hoping to finalise a new withdrawal agreement.

The European Commission said on Friday that Mr Johnson’s new Brexit proposal did not provide the basis for concluding an agreement. The UK is under pressure to make fresh concessions if detailed negotiations on a deal are to get under way.

The Downing Street spokesman said the EU had seen the publication of Mr Johnson’s proposal last week as a “step forward”, adding there were ongoing talks with the bloc.

“But we need those talks to take place at pace and need greater engagement with the compromises we have put forward,” he said.

David Frost, Mr Johnson’s Brexit negotiator, is due to hold talks in Brussels on Monday with the team of Michel Barnier, his EU counterpart.

Mr Johnson’s proposal seeks to resolve the vexed question of the Irish border that was at the centre of parliament’s rejection of the withdrawal agreement finalised by his predecessor, Theresa May, and the EU.

He wants to scrap the so-called backstop in the agreement under which a hard Irish border would be averted by the UK staying in a customs union with the EU, because of concerns it could tie Britain into close ties with the bloc.