European Union says no to Boris plan for Irish backstop

London - The United Kingdom is heading towards a showdown with the EU as Johnson has vowed to leave the bloc on October 31.

The European Union on Tuesday rebuffed Prime Minister Boris Johnson's demand that it reopen the Brexit divorce deal, saying Britain had failed to propose any realistic alternative to an agreed insurance policy for the Irish border.
The United Kingdom is heading towards a showdown with the EU as Johnson has vowed to leave the bloc on October 31 without a deal unless it agrees to renegotiate the divorce terms.
In his opening bid to the EU ahead of meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Johnson wrote a four-page letter to European Council President Donald Tusk asking to axe the Irish border "backstop".
Johnson proposed that the backstop - part of the Withdrawal Agreement that then-prime minister Theresa May agreed last year - be replaced with a "commitment" to implement alternative arrangements as part of a deal on the post-Brexit relationship.