UK PM Johnson confident of Brexit progress

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday that some progress was being made in Brexit talks but that Britain should still prepare to leave the European Union on Oct. 31 without a deal. Britain wants the backstop - designed to protect the open border between Northern Ireland and Ireland after Brexit - removed from the withdrawal agreement with the EU.

Opponents of the backstop in the British parliament worry it would lock the United Kingdom into the EU's orbit for years. Six weeks before the day when Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he will lead Britain out of the EU, with or without a deal, talks on an agreement have made little progress, heightening frustration in Brussels and raising the prospect of an economically damaging no-deal Brexit.