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Boris Johnson has been rebuffed by Brussels after demanding major changes in a new Brexit deal.<\/p>\nBoris Johnson has been rebuffed by Brussels after demanding major changes in a new Brexit deal.<\/p>\n
The British Prime Minister set out his call for the backstop \u2013 the contingency plan to avoid a hard border with Ireland \u2013 to be scrapped from the divorce deal ahead of the October 31 Brexit deadline.<\/p>\n
But European Council president Donald Tusk defended the measure and warned that those seeking to replace it would risk a return to a hard border on the island of Ireland.<\/p>\n
Mr Tusk said: \u201cThe backstop is an insurance to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland unless and until an alternative is found.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose against the backstop and not proposing realistic alternatives in fact support reestablishing a border. Even if they do not admit it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Johnson had written to Mr Tusk on Monday night outlining his opposition to what he called the \u201canti-democratic\u201d Northern Ireland backstop.<\/p>\n
In the letter, Mr Johnson said while he wants the UK to leave the EU with a deal, he could not support any withdrawal agreement that \u201clocks the UK, potentially indefinitely, into an international treaty which will bind us into a customs union and which applies large areas of single market legislation in Northern Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n