Brexit deal is essentially impossible ever - Downing Street source

 A Brexit deal is essentially impossible as German Chancellor Angela Merkel has told Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson that to do one Northern Ireland must stay in the European Union's customs union, a Downing Street source said Tuesday.

With just 23 days to go before the United Kingdom is due to leave the EU, the future of Brexit remains deeply uncertain and both London and Brussels are positioning themselves to avoid blame for a delay or a disorderly no-deal Brexit.

EU leaders reacted coolly to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's last-ditch proposals to bridge the impasse, and while negotiations are ongoing, many diplomats say the chances of a swift deal before Oct. 31 are low.

A source from Johnson's Downing Street office said Merkel spoke to the British leader on Tuesday morning and she made clear that a deal was "overwhelmingly unlikely".

Merkel said that for a deal, Northern Ireland would have to stay in the EU's customs union and full alignment with the EU forever, the source said.

"If this represents a new established position then it means a deal is essentially impossible not just now but ever," the Downing Street source said. "It also made clear that they are willing to torpedo the Good Friday Agreement."

Earlier on Tuesday, the Spectator magazine quoted an unidentified source in Downing Street saying, "This government will not negotiate further so any delay would be totally pointless. We’ll either leave with no deal on 31 October or there will be an election and then we will leave with no deal."

Amber Rudd, the former pensions secretary who quit her job and the Conservative party last month over Johnson's Brexit strategy told BBC radio the source appeared to be his senior adviser, Dominic Cummings.

"It sounds angry and desperate," she said. "Since it hasn't been denied by Number 10 ... one can only assume it's come from the centre, from the prime minister's adviser. It reveals that there doesn't appear an actual plan at all."

The source was cited as making it clear that defence and security cooperation will be affected if the E.U. tries to keep Britain in the E.U. The source also said that any E.U. states that oppose a delay would be granted good cooperation.

Johnson has consistently said the United Kingdom will leave the E.U. on Oct. 31 with or without a deal, though a law passed by his opponents demands he write a letter to the E.U. asking for a delay if he cannot strike an exit deal by Oct. 19.

He said he would abide by the law but Britain would leave the E.U. by the end of the month without explaining that contradictions. He has also repeatedly demanded an election but parliament has refused to grant one.

The source quoted by the Spectator appeared to have two views about a delay: that the government could frustrate a delay but that if it was forced to extend Brexit then it would fight an election calling for an immediate no-deal exit.

"Our legal advice is clear that we can do all sorts of things to scupper delay which for obvious reasons we aren’t going into details about," the Spectator's source said.

"We will focus on winning the election on a manifesto of immediately revoking the entire E.U. legal order without further talks, and then we will leave," the source was quoted as saying.

The source said that E.U. support for a delay would be seen by the British government as hostile interference in domestic politics "and over half of the public will agree with us."

Unless the European Union compromises and does a Brexit deal shortly, then the United Kingdom will leave without a deal, a senior Downing Street source told Reuters on Tuesday.

"If the E.U. doesn't do a deal shortly, then we leave without a deal," the source said. "We are leaving the European Union."

The U.K's opposition Labour party branded the comments coming from Downing Street as a cynical attempt to sabotage the negotiations.