The UK is ready to submit a new proposal to the European Union to secure a Brexit deal, Boris Johnson has said. 

The Prime Minister said he would be making a "very good offer" and promised it would come "shortly." However he insisted that the details should be veiled in "decent obscurity" until the government would be ready to announce them. 

Ireland's RTE had reported that the the UK had proposed to set up customs posts a few miles from the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The issue of how to manage that border has been the main stumbling block in negotiations so far, with the EU supporting Dublin's position that reimposing a hard border threatens a peace deal in place for two decades. London maintains that Northern Ireland's customs regime should be aligned with the UK mainland, not with its European Union neighbour.  

Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney immediately dismissed the reported proposal on Twitter as a "non-starter." 

Speaking to the BBC, Johnson claimed that the report did not correctly represent the UK position. Nevertheless he accepted that border checks would be required somewhere. 

While Johnson claims that he is committed to securing an agreement, he has always promised that Brexit will happen on October 31 whether or not a deal is in place to cushion the impact of the departure and allow time for new trade terms to be drawn up. That puts him in conflict with Parliament which has passed a law requiring the prime minister to seek an extension to the timetable from Brussels if he cannot reach an agreement with the EU before October 19.