The UK government has reiterated that it will not change its position on how the Irish border will be managed after Britain leaves the European Union in March next year.
“At the moment what the European Union is asking in and around Northern Ireland is simply impossible for any UK government to accept. And actually if they stick with that position, there will be no deal,” UK Transport Secretary Chris Grayling told the BBC on Friday.
The comments come a day after EU leaders warned British Prime Minister Theresa May that Britain should face the prospect of leaving the bloc without a deal unless it made compromises on the Irish border and how trade will be regulated in future.
May has insisted that her plan for frictionless trade between the UK province of Northern Ireland and the EU state of Ireland would be the best solution to avoid a hard border between the two after Brexit.
She told a summit of EU leaders in Salzburg, Austria, on…