EU's Barnier: Backstop must be workable to avoid hard border

The EU's Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has recently delivered his comments on the new UK backstop proposal.

Barnier said that they were welcoming the new publication and added that the backstop had to respect the EU's single market and the customs union integrity. According to Barnier, the new proposal has to be 'workable' in order to avoid a hard-border with Ireland.

Earlier in the hour,  Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar argued that there still was a 'great deal' of work remaining on the proposal.