Ireland’s deputy prime minister has hit back at suggestions that the EU is finally bending to Boris Johnson’s demands to drop the backstop on the Irish border.

Speaking at a conference in Paris, Simon Coveney said “no one has yet come up with credible arrangements, or technological solutions, which could replace those temporary arrangements in the withdrawal agreement”.

“This is why Prime Minister Johnson’s proposal to abolish the backstop, in the absence of agreed alternative arrangements, is something we cannot support.”

Coveney reminded the audience – which included the Brexit secretary, Stephen Barclay – that the backstop had been an agreement with the UK on the basis of a “shared understanding” of the unique situation in Ireland and that it had the support of the majority in Northern Ireland.

He said the backstop remained “currently the only viable, if temporary, solution” for the Irish border, with sources saying the suspension of parliament will not make a difference to that view unless Johnson has fresh, viable plans.

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Barclay hit back immediately, saying the backstop was dead and that “parliament will not allow the people of Northern Ireland to be subject to an indefinite period of continued alignment”.

He said: “It would mean Northern Irish citizens, UK citizens, being governed by rules in which we have no say,” and added that, as it stands, the backstop would be harder to leave than the EU.

He said discussions about the Irish border had to be taken out of any exit deal and moved to talks on the future trade relationship.

Barclay also said as the Democratic Unionist party was against the backstop, it could not be deemed viable despite the fact the region voted to remain.

“The backstop has also been universally rejected by one of the two key communities in Northern Ireland, which means it is an unstable basis for power-sharing in Northern Ireland,” he said.

Their remarks show the continued gulf in thinking on Brexit and put paid to the suggestion of a breakthrough made at the G7 summit in Biarritz.

Barclay went on to accuse France of leaving British people resident in the country behind after Brexit. He said they would have fewer rights than the 300,000 French nationals in the UK in the event of no deal.

“EU leaders repeatedly tell me how important citizens’ rights are to them but not only has the commission refused to agree a specific deal on citizens’ rights – as requested by all political parties in the UK parliament – the offer here in France falls short of what we have set out in the UK in several respects,” he said.

He added: “We have guaranteed the rights of the approximately 300,000 French nationals, and indeed all EU nationals living in the UK. I call on the French government and others in the EU to match our offer and provide certainty for UK nationals in France.”

The campaign group British in Europe, which represents an estimated 1 million Britons settled in EU states, has repeatedly criticised the British government for making them “bargaining chips” in the Brexit negotiations in the first place and then not doing enough to secure their rights in the event of no deal.

At events across Europe the campaign group has warned about the human cost of Brexit for citizens in France, Spain, Italy and elsewhere in the bloc.