Boris Johnson has sent a clear message to Theresa May that any deal for leaving the EU must involve "the whole of the UK taking back control" as negotiations over the Irish border continue.

In an apparent warning against offering special status to Northern Ireland or other areas of the country, the Foreign Secretary said that all parts of Britain must have control over the country's borders, laws and money.

He said it was time to "get going" with trade talks, which Mrs May is hoping to achieve when she attends a meeting of the European Council next week.

Negotiations between London, Dublin, Belfast and Brussels continued on Thursday night as Mrs May tried to rewrite a draft agreement on the terms of Britain's withdrawal that all sides can sign up to.

Mrs May was forced to abandon talks with the European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker on Monday after the DUP, on whose votes Mrs May relies for her majority, reacted with fury to a passage in a draft agreement that called for "regulatory alignment" between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.