President Macron told Boris Johnson that the withdrawal agreement could be amended, but a that new one cannot be created in 30 days. Read the latest on the PM's talks in France here:
Prime minister says he wants a deal and declares: 'Where there's a will, there's a way'
But when you leave aside the Kremlinology, the body language, the bonhomie detector, the two leaders of Europe were, in reality, saying the same thing - if there's an alternative to the backstop, bring it to us. So Merkel and Mactron have offered Johnson…nothing, just a timetable to provide answers to a question which they know do not exist.Police in Northern Ireland could call in support from other forces around the UK in the event of a no-deal Brexit, the region's police chief has said.
"If we go back to the past we talked about a number of 7,500 officers being what Patten [Lord Patten who oversaw policing reforms] saw as the number of officers that I need to police the streets of Northern Ireland and that's my plea to politicians," he said. He says the two elements underpinning the backstop must be maintained, but says there will be further discussions on the terms of the future relationship between the two sides.Johnson: A great deal of work has already been done to ensure a smooth transition on 31 October.Johnson: Let's get Brexit done, let's get it done sensibly.Johnson: We have an extraordinary friendship with France.Johnson: It is vital for trust in politics to deliver on the result of the referendum.
Sky's deputy political editor Sam Coates assesses what we learned from the PM's press conference with Angela Merkel on Wednesday.WATCH: PM acknowledges UK has to come up with backstop alternativesBoris Johnson is in Paris this morning as he takes his bid to get changes to the Brexit deal to the door of Emmanuel Macron.shortly, although if Mr Johnson is hoping for a breakthrough he looks set to be disappointed.
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