Boris Johnson is set for a private meeting with the Irish taoiseach on Thursday in a last-ditch attempt to come to a Brexit compromise over Northern Ireland, after talks came to a sudden halt in Brussels. Varadkar said on Wednesday he was willing to examine how the people of Northern Ireland could give their consent to arrangements to avoid a hard border. “I think that the proposal that Boris Johnson one week ago put forward was not serious at all,” he said. Merkel was said in the anonymous briefing to have also refused to allow Northern Ireland to leave the bloc’s customs union. That in my opinion is a traitor.”The Brexit secretary, Stephen Barclay, will meet Barnier for a working lunch in Brussels on Friday.

Source: The Guardian October 09, 2019 19:33 UTC