Irish PM says what he is hearing on UK Brexit proposals not encouraging

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar on Wednesday said that he had not yet received new British proposals on the terms of its departure from the European Union, but that British officials had briefed their Irish counterparts and the details were not encouraging.

"In terms of any proposals that are being produced today, I don't want to comment on them until I have had a chance to see them and study them. But certainly what we are hearing is not encouraging and would not be the basis for an agreement, sadly, in my view," Varadkar told the Irish parliament.

Varadkar said he planned to speak with Johnson by phone on Wednesday evening.