Boris's Brexit reveal: Johnson sends UK proposal to Brussels as clock ticks down
United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson sent a Brexit proposal to the European Union on Wednesday, claiming the only alternative is a no-deal exit as the Oct. 31 deadline for an agreement closes in.
"Let's get Brexit done on 31 October … to answer the cry of those 17.4 million who voted for Brexit [and] for those millions who may have voted Remain, but are first and foremost democrats and accept the result of the referendum," Johnson said in a speech to his party in Manchester, according to the BBC.
The new proposals represent a "compromise by the UK," said Johnson, who hopes the EU will "understand that and compromise in their turn."
Among other things, the proposals remove the so-called Irish backstop provision that would prevent a hard border between the independent Republic of Ireland, which is remaining in the EU, and northern Ireland, which would leave along with the rest of Britain.
The boundary was the source of a bloody conflict that lasted for decades before a peace agreement in the late 1990s, but some British residents fear the backstop provision would obligate them to follow EU rules without having a voice in making them.
"[T]he backstop acted as a bridge to a proposed future relationship with the Eu in which the UK would be closely integrated with EU customs arrangements and would align with EU laws in many areas," Johnson wrote in a letter to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday. "That proposed future relationship is not the goal of the current UK government."
Johnson, an outspoken advocate for Britain's departure from the European Union, had promised to leave by Oct. 31 with or without a European trade agreement until Parliament outlawed a no-deal exit.
The country's highest court later ruled that Johnson had acted illegally when he attempted to suspend the legislative body for several weeks prior to the deadline, and Queen Elizabeth II reportedly sought advice on the legal procedure for dismissing him.
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar described what he was hearing about Johnson's Brexit proposals as "not encouraging," according to BBC.
Juncker and Johnson are set to speak on the phone as their negotiating teams meet on Wednesday.