David Frost, the Prime Minister’s top EU adviser, was told the bloc would not hold negotiations tomorrow unless he could prove the Government is ready to compromise on its Northern Ireland backstop proposals. He failed to convince his European counterparts that the UK was ready to answer the three questions raised by Michel Barnier on the new consent mechanism for Stormont and plans for a customs border on Ireland. A European source accused London of setting a series of “traps” by suggesting that talks should continue over the weekend.

Brussels fears that Mr Johnson’s adviser only requested the talks to trigger a brutal “blame game” over no deal.

Sources said talks would instead resume on Monday in the hope that the Prime Minister signs off a mandate for Mr Frost to alter the new proposals.

The latest offer to Brussels was met by a raft of criticism as Mr Barnier said the Government would have to “fundamentally amend its position” to make the backstop acceptable to Brussels.

Mr Frost met with the European Commission’s negotiating team last night and today in a bid to save the talks from collapse.

A UK government spokesman said: “We have put forward proposals which represent a reasonable compromise.

“If the EU also wants a deal we need to work together at pace in the coming days. We are having technical discussions on the proposals with Taskforce 50 again today and we are ready to continue those talks at any point to secure a deal including through the weekend.”

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