The EU rejected Boris Johnson's latest call for a fundamental reworking of the terms for Britain’s withdrawal from the bloc on Tuesday as the UK prime minister prepared to meet German chancellor Angela Merkel for the first time since he took office last month.

The stand-off fuelled rising expectations that the UK will leave the EU on October 31 without an exit deal, souring relations between the two sides and threatening severe economic disruption.

Responding to a letter from Mr Johnson demanding the dropping of the so-called Irish backstop from the withdrawal agreement negotiated by his predecessor Theresa May, Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, said the UK had offered no “realistic alternatives” to avoid a hard border in Ireland.