Brexit news - LIVE: Macron tells Boris Johnson backstop is 'indispensable' and says new Withdrawal Agreement 'cannot be found within 30 days'

Following their press conference, Boris Johnson and Emmanuel Macron had lunch in the Elysee Palace before going for a walk through the gardens together, accompanied only by an official photographer.

The leaders then enjoyed coffee in the palace where there was some small talk between then, although the conversation was inaudible to the travelling press pack. It was Mr Johnson who was asking the questions of Mr Macron while the media was present.

The mirrored room was decorated with British, French and European Union flags.

Mr Johnson left the palace following the coffee and is due to fly back to the UK before conducting domestic visits on Friday.

Former Tory MP Nick Boles has rejected Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's invitation to meet to co-ordinate opposition efforts to stop a no-deal Brexit.

Boles, who quit the party in April over its approach to Brexit, warned Mr Corbyn not to pursue a vote of no confidence in the government which could lead to a general election before legislation had been passed to mandate the Prime Minister to request an extension to Article 50.

Mr Boles was one of the MPs who co-ordinated efforts to block a no-deal Brexit on March 29.

He said: "I therefore urge you and the leaders of the other opposition parties to focus on legislative measures to stop no-deal Brexit on October 31.

"This will necessarily involve doing what we did earlier this year: seizing control of the order paper and passing an Act of Parliament that compels the Prime Minister to secure the agreement of the EU Council to a further extension to Article 50.

"I am confident that, with goodwill and genuine cross-party cooperation, we can do this again."

Former Tory MP Nick Boles has posted that rejection leader sent to Jeremy Corbyn in full.

As you might expect, some subtly different interpretations of what Emmanuel Macron actually meant with his remarks outside Elysee Palace today.

Mujtaba Rahman, the former European commission official who works the Eurasia consultancy suggests there’s no chance of any “significant change” to the Withdrawal Agreement.

The AFP’s Adam Plowright thinks Macron was only “face-saving” but making positive noises about Angela Merkel’s suggestion Boris Johnson comes up with backstop alternatives in 30 days.

Jeremy Corbyn has pledged to do “everything necessary” to stop “no-deal carnage” amid fears a no-deal Brexit could lead to the slaughter of millions of lambs.

The Labour leader is visiting Rake Foot Farm in Keswick where he warned that the potential threat of leaving the EU without a deal would be a “reckless and unnecessary act”.

British farmers could face an EU tariff of 46 per cent on lamb leading to fears that, if the lamb meat cannot be sold, there will be culls of millions of sheep to prevent them dying of starvation.

Corbyn said: “The needless, forced slaughter of millions of sheep is the perfect metaphor for a no-deal Brexit.

“The damage to our farming industry of such a reckless and unnecessary act is symbolic of Boris Johnson's approach to Brexit.

“There is no mandate for this no-deal carnage, which we will do everything necessary to stop.”

Jeremy Corbyn looks at a lamb in Keswick (PA) 

One of Jeremy Corbyn’s own frontbenchers has suggested he must be prepared to support an alternative caretaker PM if MPs refuse to put the Labour leader in No10 to stop a no-deal Brexit.

Paul Sweeney, shadow Scotland minister, said the party leadership should “seriously consider” throwing its weight behind a senior MP, such as Tory grandee Ken Clarke, as a stopgap.

Our political correspondent Lizzy Buchan has the details.

The latest remarks made by German chancellor Angela Merkel, clarifying her “30 days” comments from yesterday, make for interesting reading.

She said she had not given Britain a 30 day deadline to find a solution for the so-called Irish backstop, but had wanted to highlight how short time was before Britain’s planned European Union exit date of 31 October.

“I said that what one can achieve in three or two years can also be achieved in 30 days. Better said, one must say that one can also achieve it by October 31,” Merkel told a news conference in the Hague.

“It is not about 30 days. The 30 days were meant as an example to highlight the fact that we need to achieve it in a short time because Britain had said they want to leave the European Union on October 31,” she added.

At a joint news conference on Wednesday in Berlin with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Merkel appeared to suggest that a solution to the sticking point of the Irish backstop could be found in the next 30 days.

“It was said we will probably find a solution in two years. But we could also find one in the next 30 days, why not?” Merkel had said.

Our business editor Olesya Dmitracova has more on the UK-South Korea trade agreement signed by international trade secretary Liz Truss and her Korean counterpart Yoo Myung-Hee today.

Former Tory MP Nick Boles is not the only one to have rejected the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s invitation to discuss plans to block a no-deal Brexit in Parliament.

Tory MP Dame Caroline Spelman’s office has said that she will not be attending Corbyn’s meeting.

Former Tory ministers Dominic Grieve, Sir Oliver Letwin and Guto Bebb also received an invitation from the Labour leader on Wednesday, but have yet to confirm whether they attend.

The meeting is scheduled to take place on August 27 at 12pm.