MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brussels insists the Irish backstop agreed with PM May is the “only operational solution”

The EU’s refusal to give ground came as senior Tories from both wings of the party met in Whitehall for talks aimed at finding a solution to the Irish border issue

Brussels has stepped up its opposition to attempts to reopen Theresa May’s Brexit deal as senior Tories began talks on alternatives to the Irish backstop. The European Union’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier said the backstop was the “only operational solution” to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland.

And senior Brussels official Martin Selmayr insisted there were no plans to offer legally binding assurances to help Mrs May get her deal through Parliament.

The EU’s refusal to give ground came as senior Tories from both wings of the party met in Whitehall for talks aimed at finding a solution to the Irish border issue following last week’s Commons vote calling for “alternative arrangements” to replace the backstop.

In another headache for the Prime Minister, former first minister of Northern Ireland Lord Trimble threatened to take the UK Government to court over the backstop, arguing it breaches the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

The alternative arrangements working group, made up of senior Leave and Remain-leaning Tories, held its first talks in Whitehall with Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay.

After more than two hours of discussions, former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, a leading Brexiteer, said “all sides of this debate” were “coming together to find a solution”, while ex-education secretary Nicky Morgan said the talks were “very constructive”.

Meanwhile the cross-party House of Commons Brexit Committee was in Brussels for talks with senior figures including Mr Selmayr, the European Commission general secretary viewed as Jean-Claude Juncker’s right-hand man.

In response to reports that he had told the Brexit Committee that the EU would be ready to consider legally binding assurances, Mr Selmayr tweeted: “On the EU side, nobody is considering this.”

“Asked whether any assurance would help to get the Withdrawal Agreement through the Commons, the answers of MPs were … inconclusive.”. He added “the meeting confirmed that the EU did well to start its no deal preparations in December 2017.”

Mr Barnier held talks with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and said there was “full agreement that (the) Withdrawal Agreement cannot be reopened”.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the EU was ready to listen to proposals to solve the border “riddle”, but needs to hear from Britain how it thinks it can be done.

Speaking during a trip to Japan, Mrs Merkel said: “To solve this riddle, you have to be creative and you have to listen to one another.”

“We can have those conversations, so we can use the remaining time to perhaps remove the obstacles that have so far stood in the way and find an agreement if everyone is willing.” “But we must hear from Great Britain how they want to do it.”

Mrs Merkel’s visit for talks with Japanese PM Shinzo Abe came soon after a new EU-Japan trade deal came into force and a day after Nissan confirmed it was ditching plans to build its X-Trail SUV in Sunderland.