Boris Johnson makes his 'final offer' to the EU as the UK heads towards a hard no-deal Brexit

• Boris Johnson will submit his "final offer" to the European Union on Wednesday.
• The prime minister is set to publish details of his proposed Brexit deal after addressing Conservative party conference this afternoon.
• Johnson has called for the backstop to be scrapped and replace with a new arrangement for managing the Irish border.
• Details of Johnson's plan were revealed on Tuesday evening. They involve creating two borders and new checks on goods moving in and out of Northern Ireland.
• A senior Irish minister said the reported plan was unacceptable.
• Visit Business Insider's home page for more stories.

LONDON - Prime Minister Boris Johnson will on Wednesday submit to the European Union his "final offer" on a Brexit deal as the United Kingdom approaches the October 31 cliff-edge.

Johnson will address Conservative party conference in Manchester, England before revealing the details of his proposal for managing the border between the Northern Ireland and Ireland after the UK has left the EU.

The question of how to preserve the status quo on the island of Ireland - primarily how to avoid checks and infrastructure on the border - has led to a stand-off between Johnson's UK government and the EU.

Under law passed last month, Johnson must approve parliamentary approval for a Brexit with deal with EU by mid-October, or request a fresh delay to the UK's exit through an extension to Article 50.

However, the prime minister has said he will not delay Brexit.

So what is Johnson's big offer?

The details of Johnson's offer to the EU were revealed by The Telegraph on Tuesday evening.

The prime minister on Tuesday described the offer as "fair and reasonable."

The key points of the prime minister's reported offer are that after the transition period, which would end in December 2020, the whole of the UK would leave the customs union, including Northern Ireland. However, Northern Ireland would continue to follow swathes of EU single market rules for at least another four years. After those four years end, its politicians would decide whether to either continue following EU rules, or converge with the rest of Great Britain.

In practice, this would mean:

• Two new borders: a customs border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and a regulatory border in the Irish sea between Nothern Ireland and Great Britain.
• A myriad of new checks on goods moving in and out of Northern Ireland.
• This arrangement would be time-limited, creating a new cliff-edge in the mid-2020s.
• Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party, that props up the Conservative government in Westminster, would effectively have the power to veto continued alignment with the EU.

Numerous experts said the proposal was unviable, with Peter Foster, the journalist who revealed its details, describing it as "extraordinary" and adding: "I cannot for the life of me see how this flies; or could ever be intended to fly."

The proposal falls short of upholding the commitment made by the UK government when it was led by Theresa May, to make sure there are no physical checks on the island of Ireland whatsoever as a result of Brexit.

Jonathan Powell, who represented the UK government in Northern Ireland peace talks, said the proposals were "not serious" and indicated that Johnson was actually trying to avoid an agreement with the EU so no deal takes place.

And Helen McEntee, the Irish government's Minister for European Affairs, said the proposals were "unacceptable" as they breached the UK government's previous commitment to avoid physical checks on the island of Ireland.

Read more: These business owners on the Irish border fear a no-deal Brexit could soon wreck their livelihoods

Read more: 'The guns are back out again': Northern Ireland fears a Brexit border will escalate violence

However, Johnson will on Wednesday use his party conference speech to describe his offer as the only route to avoiding a no-deal Brexit on October 31, and repeat his promise not to delay Brexit.

The prime minister is expected to say: "What people want, what Leavers want, what Remainers want, what the whole world wants - is to move on," he is expected to say.

"I am afraid that after three-and-a-half years people are beginning to feel that they are being taken for fools."

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