Ireland calls down on possibility of backstop alternatives amid Brexit deadlock

Brexit negotiators have spent two years looking at alternatives to the backstop insurance policy to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland and not found any that work, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said on Wednesday.

Britain's Brexit minister said earlier on Wednesday that London was exploring such options after parliament voted to order Prime Minister Theresa May to renegotiate the terms, but did not say what could replace the backstop.

"We have been through all of these things. We have tested them and we have found that they do not stand up to scrutiny, and now we have a British prime minister advocating again for the same things that were tested," Coveney told national broadcaster RTE.