EU BREXIT negotiator Michel Barnier said yesterday that Britain must come forward with proposals to avoid a “hard” border in Ireland .

In a speech to the Centre for European Reform think tank in Brussels, Mr Barnier said it was up to Britain to come up with a solution of how to avoid border posts between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.

“I expect the UK, as co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement, to come forward with proposals,” he said, again raising the spectre of cuts in EU peace funding.