Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen have failed to reach agreement on UK demands to reshape post-Brexit arrangements in Northern Ireland. The PM and president of the European Commission spoke earlier about the UK's suggested changes to the Northern Ireland protocol. Ms von der Leyen said that the EU will "not renegotiate" the original deal.
But a Downing Street spokesman said the PM reiterated the protocol is "unsustainable" and must be changed. Mr Johnson also urged German Chancellor Angela Merkel to consider "significant changes" to the agreement during a call on Thursday. The UK and EU agreed the Northern Ireland Protocol in 2019, as part of the Brexit withdrawal agreement. It prevents a hard border in Ireland by keeping Northern Ireland in the EU single market for goods.
The UK government has previously said that border checks imposed on goods from Great Britain it signed up to in the Brexit divorce deal had proved to be unworkable. On Wednesday, the UK's Brexit minister Lord Frost set out a new set of demands to re-shape the agreement. He said disruption caused by the protocol meant the UK would be within its rights to activate Article 16 in the protocol, which allows parts of the deal to be unilaterally overridden. But he said it would not do so now, and would instead seek to negotiate changes with the EU during planned talks over the summer.
Italy brings in Covid certificate amid spike in infections
China discovers 30 viruses discovered frozen in over 15,000-year-old ice
Ethiopia Tigray crisis: New front opens in war as aid fears grow
Floods wreak havoc in China, Roads submerged, Water reached people's necks