BORIS Johnson has told MPs he has made a "genuine attempt to bridge the chasm" with the EU by making compromises to strike a fresh Brexit deal.

The Prime Minister told the Commons his proposals provide a basis for rapid negotiations. 

But he acknowledged there is still some way to go before a resolution.

He said: "I do not for one moment resile from the fact that we have shown great flexibility in the interests of reaching an accommodation with our European friends and achieving the resolution for which we all yearn.

"If our European neighbours choose not to show a corresponding willingness to reach a deal then we shall have to leave on October 31 without an agreement and we are ready to do so.

"But that outcome would be a failure of statecraft for which all parties would be held responsible."

It came as Jeremy Corbyn slammed the plans as "a rehashed version of previously rejected proposals" that would put the Good Friday Agreement at risk and "trigger a race to the bottom on rights and protections for workers, consumers and our precious environment". 

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The Labour leader said: "These proposals would lead to an even worse deal than that agreed by the former Prime Minister [Theresa May]."

Meanwhile, SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford insisted the plans were unacceptable, unworkable and undeliverable. 

He said: "Scotland will never consent to this extreme Tory Brexit, which would drag us out of the EU, single market and customs union against our will - and cause devastating harm to Scottish jobs, living standards, public services and the economy.

"Boris Johnson's half-baked Brexit proposals are even worse than Theresa May's.

"They are unacceptable, unworkable, undeliverable and designed to fail - but no one will be fooled by this botched Tory attempt to shift blame for a catastrophic no-deal Brexit."

He said the SNP "stands ready" to bring Mr Johnson down in a vote of no confidence. 

Mr Johnson shared his latest Brexit proposals with leaders in Brussels yesterday. The reaction from key figures in the EU has so far been cool.

Today, the Prime Minister urged MPs to "come together in the national interest behind this new deal".

He said: "This Government's objective has always been to leave with a deal. And these constructive and reasonable proposals show our seriousness of purpose.

"They do not deliver everything that we would have wished. They do represent a compromise.

"But to remain a prisoner of existing positions is to become a cause of deadlock rather than breakthrough.

"And so we have made a genuine attempt to bridge the chasm, to reconcile the apparently irreconcilable. And to go the extra mile as time runs short."

He added: "The essence of our new proposal is a new protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland consisting of five elements.

"In the first place all our actions are based on our shared determination to sustain the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement, the fundamental basis of governance in Northern Ireland, the protection of which is the highest priority of all.

"And from this follows the second principle - namely that we shall of course uphold all the longstanding areas of co-operation between the UK and our friends in Ireland including the rights of all those living in Northern Ireland, north/south co-operation and the Common Travel Area, which predates both the Good Friday Agreement and the European Union itself.

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"Third, we propose the potential creation of a regulatory zone on the island of Ireland covering all goods, including agri-food.

"For as long as it exists, this zone would eliminate all regulatory checks for trade in goods between Ireland and Northern Ireland.

"But fourth, unlike the so-called backstop, such a regulatory zone would be sustained with the consent of the people of Northern Ireland, as expressed through the Assembly and Executive.

"They will give their consent during the transition period as a condition for these arrangements entering into force.

"Thereafter, the Assembly will vote again every four years - and if consent were withheld, these arrangements would then lapse after one year.

"Fifth, it has always been a point of principle for this Government that at the end of the transition period, the UK should leave the EU customs union whole and entire, restoring sovereign control over our trade policy and opening the way for free trade deals with all our friends around the world."

Mr Johnson said the new proposals would mean Northern Ireland is fully part of the UK customs territory, not the EU customs union.

He said: "But there will be no need for checks - or any infrastructure - at or near the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.

"Indeed, I have already given a guarantee that the UK Government will never conduct checks at the border and we believe that the EU should do the same, so there is absolute clarity on that point.

"Instead, under this new protocol, all customs checks between Northern Ireland and Ireland would take place either electronically or, in the small number of cases where physical checks would be necessary, they would happen at traders' premises or other points in the supply chain."

He said a "New Deal for Northern Ireland" would boost economic growth and competitiveness and set in train new infrastructure, particularly with a cross-border focus.