Member states have poured cold water on the prime minister’s offer, saying his proposals “do not provide the basis for concluding an agreement”, after he called on Brussels to match his “compromise”. Brexit Party MEP Belinda de Lucy said she believes the bloc will demand he “water down” the backstop alternatives to bring them more in line with Theresa May’s deal in a cunning plan to point the finger of blame for no-deal at Britain on October 31. The South East MEP told Express.co.uk: “At the moment, from spending time in Brussels, I think the EU will reject it but it does not want to come out and be blamed for no-deal. 

“They are all about optics at the moment and they are doing a big PR stunt so that they don’t get blamed for a no-deal. 

“This is how worried they are about being blamed. 

“They are not going to accept what Boris’s offers but they might come back and ask for more concessions, watering it down further and it will become even more like May’s deal. 

“It’s no secret that the Brexit Party has grave concerns over the resurgence of May’s deal even without the backstop.” 

Ms de Lucy said Mr Johnson’s negotiating position at the table had been weakened by the Been Act which forces him to ask for an extension on October 19 if a deal has not been agreed. 

She said while she was impressed by Mr Johnson’s bravado during his speech at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester she remains cautious of his proposals until the full text has been released. 

The prime minster called the proposals a “broad landing zone” for a fresh deal with Brussels but Ireland’s premier Leo Varadkar was quick to claim the offer “falls short in a number of aspects”. 

Ms de Lucy said she agreed with Arlene Foster when the DUP leader said Mr Varadkar would “go down in history as the man that instituted a hard border on the island of Ireland”. 

The DUP has endorsed Mr Johnson’s proposals to prevent a border between Northern Ireland and the Republic. 

Ms de Lucy said: “I think the proposals are the best alternative put forward so far but we are waiting to scrutinise the legal text before making our final judgement. 

“Boris’s rhetoric was fantastic at the conference but what was clear from the letter was that there was a lot left out. 

“The proposals are a positive step to change the prison-like backstop but as long as the option to Remain in the EU stays firmly on the table the EU are very unlikely to have to accept what deal Boris offers. 

“We had May saying we would take back control of our borders but the small print in her Withdrawal Agreement said otherwise. It’s hard to know who to trust at the moment.” 

Mr Johnson’s plan would see Northern Ireland leave the EU’s customs union alongside the rest of the UK at the beginning of 2021. 

He is seeking to establish an “all-island regulatory zone” with EU rules for agriculture and foods applied to Northern Ireland if given the consent of politicians in the Six Counties every four years. 

But Ms de Lucy said the plan may be doomed, saying: “I don’t think it would be in Sinn Fein’s interest to make that happen.” 

She added: “Of course we would like a quick, clean Brexit and we would be behind Boris 100 percent in that. 

“In the EU elections we did have a lot of Tory voters coming to our side and they have now moved back to Boris and we completely understand but we have been burned so many times by politicians.” 

“Even the ERG voted for a deal that was bad for our country, that’s why we have the Brexit Party and people are very grateful to us.”

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