Today, Boris Johnson has demanded the scrapping of the Irish backstop in a letter to European Council President Donald Tusk. The Prime Minister is setting out his proposals for reaching a new Brexit deal before Britain’s departure from the EU on October 31.

He wrote that the backstop, which prevents a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, is “anti-democratic and inconsistent with the sovereignty of the UK”.

Mr Johnson said: “Time is very short. But the UK is ready to move quickly, and, given the degree of common ground already, I hope that the EU will be ready to do likewise.

“The changes we seek relate primarily to the backstop. The problems with the backstop run much deeper than the simple political reality that it has three times been rejected by the House of Commons.

“The truth is that it is simply unviable, for these three reasons. First, it is anti-democratic and inconsistent with the sovereignty of the UK as a state.

“Second, it is inconsistent with the UK’s desired final destination for a sustainable long-term relationship with the EU.

“Third, it has become increasingly clear that the backstop risks weakening the delicate balance embodied in the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement.”

Mr Johnson also encouraged finding “flexible and creative” solutions to manage the customs and regulatory differences between both countries after Brexit.

In his first phone call with Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar as Prime Minister this month, Mr Johnson was told the Withdrawal Agreement negotiated by Theresa May’s government is not open for renegotiation.

In his most recent book “The Great Betrayal”, newspaper columnist Rod Liddle accused Mr Varadkar’s government and the EU of blackmailing Britain with the Irish issue.

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Mr Liddle wrote: “Both Leo Vradkar and the EU negotiating team stuck fast to the notion that technology would not solve the Irish question, it could only be solved by the UK ceding ground and agreeing in effect, to a customs union with the EU.

“This was, of course, a convenient line for them to hold as it places pressure on the UK and held it was until the spring of of 2019, when Varadkar suddenly admitted that technology (basically blockchain) could solve almost all of the problems surrounding this backstop business, except for maybe the transportation of livestock.

“Brussels agreed, but the UK was still miles behind the curve.

“Varadkar’s admission is important, although the truth of what he said was evident three years ago, as soon as we voted to leave the EU – it’s just that the UK government never grasped the point.”

The journalist noted: “There is the technology available to bypass almost all the problems occasioned by the Irish Border.

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“Meanwhile, the checking of livestock could be done not at the border point, but at the farms within both the republic and Northern Ireland.

“A minor hassle, I think, but necessary to stop the poor Irish people being flooded with tons of evil mutant chlorinated chickens, which is what seems to have been worrying Varadkar.”

Mr Liddle added: “The backstop, the bloody backstop.

“It was ever a chimera, a confected mess of an issue, used cleverly by both the EU and Irish government to blackmail the leaver Brits.

“And it worked.

“You have to say that – it worked.”

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