Donald Tusk insists he will not cooperate with the UK on a no-deal Brexit and says Boris Johnson will not want to go down in history as Mr ‘No Deal’.

Speaking at the start of the G7 summit of world leaders in the French seaside town of Biarritz, the European Council president said the EU was “willing to listen to ideas that are operational, realistic and acceptable to all member states, including Ireland”.

The prime minister has said the UK will leave the EU on 31 October “do or die”.

Downing Street has been playing down any chance of a Brexit breakthrough, with the PM warning on Friday that people should “not hold their breath” on an agreement.

Mr Johnson, who met German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron this week, said talks were making progress but it would not be easy to persuade the EU.

The main stumbling block is the backstop, which was intended to be used to avoid the return of a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland if a UK-EU trade deal is not reached.

In a wide-ranging speech in France, Mr Tusk said:

• Trade wars among G7 members will further erode trust between them
• If President Trump is using tariffs as political tool it could be risky for whole world
• Summit will be “difficult test of unity” after year where leaders found it hard to find common language
• EU stands by deal with Mercosur [South American trade bloc]
• But hard to imagine smooth ratification by member states if Brazil’s government lets Amazon forest burn
• Under no condition can EU agree with Trump proposal to bring Russia back into G7
• Russia was excluded for annexing Crimea and backing anti-Kiev rebellion in eastern Ukraine

International issues such as climate change, inequality and security are likely to dominate the three-day summit.

Meetings with Donald Trump, the EU and other world leaders are on the agenda for Mr Johnson.

And it will be a chance for the prime minister to talk Brexit and trade on the global stage.

He is expected to tell the US president that the NHS will not be on the table in any future trade deal.

Speaking ahead of the summit, the prime minister said some people “question” the UK’s choice to leave the EU and fear it will cause the country to “retreat from the world”.

But he insisted those who “think Britain’s best days are behind us” are “gravely mistaken” – adding that the UK will “remain at the heart of the alliances that span the world”.

The event is Mr Johnson’s first international summit in the job and will bring him face-to-face with Mr Trump.

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