Boris Johnson’s Brexit plan revealed

Boris Johnson has thrown down the gauntlet to the European Union, challenging them to agree to his long-awaited new proposal for Northern Ireland after Brexit.

He told the Conservative party conference in Manchester that the only alternative to his plan was no deal.

The proposal is for two borders  – a high-tech infrastructure-free customs border between Northern Ireland and the Republic, and a regulatory border for goods and agriculture between the whole island of Ireland and the rest of the UK.

But that second border could be abolished by the Northern Ireland Assembly, dominated by the Democratic Unionist Party.