Tusk says Chequers plan won't work as May urges EU leaders to grant concessions

Chief of the European Council Donald Tusk, said on Thursday that Theresa May's proposed new economic partnership with the EU "will not work" as it risks undermining the EU's single market.

Theresa May told EU leaders over dinner in a summit in Salzburg that she refuses to delay the date of Brexit despite lacking a deal and urged them to consider her plans for the divorce.

She pressed the point that both sides are still very far apart on a trade agreement and the Irish border issue, saying: “We all recognise that time is short but extending or delaying these negotiations is not an option.”

Some countries, led by Netherlands and Belgium and backed by Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, believe that it is the EU’s turn to grant concessions, The Times reported, while others including France and Germany still see major sticking points in May’s blueprint.

The UK is set to present new proposals on the Irish border in the coming weeks. The EU insisted that unless acceptable proposals are presented, Northern Ireland will have to stay aligned with the EU post-Brexit to avoid a hard border on the island.

Although a deal is still a possibility, Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European commission, and Tusk, said that an agreement was still far away and the UK’s proposals needed to be “reworked and further negotiated”.

"For this to work we need not only good will, which we feel today - it's the atmosphere today and yesterday was much better than two or three weeks ago - but the Irish question needs something more than good intentions.

"We need tough, clear and precise guarantees.

"This is why we need more time but our hope is we will be ready with this in October."

Further summits have been arranged for November as both sides want to reach an agreement before December so there is enough time to get the deal signed by the UK and the European parliament.

Even if May manages to get the Chequers plan approved by the EU27 it still faces strong criticism back home from the Tory Brexiters, who claim it goes against what the people voted for in the 2016 referendum.

Former minister from the Conservative Party Mike Penning said the Chequers plan was as “dead as a dodo” and that it was delusional to think that the eurosceptics in the party would back her proposals.