Donald Tusk has said he has "no grounds for optimism" as EU leaders prepare to gather for one of the last chances to approve a Brexit deal.

The President of the European Council's remarks come a day before a major summit of EU leaders, where Theresa May will gave an update on the negotiations.

Mr Tusk said on Tuesday: "Unfortunately, the report on the state of the negotiations that I got from Michel Barnier today, as well as yesterday's debate in the House of Commons, give me no grounds for optimism before tomorrow's European Council on Brexit.

"And as I see it, the only source of hope for a deal, for now, is the goodwill and determination on both sides."

Image: Donald Tusk, right, with the European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker

Mr Tusk added: "Tomorrow, I am going to ask Prime Minister Theresa May whether she has concrete proposals on how to break the impasse.


"Only such proposals can determine if a breakthrough is possible."

The European Council president added that leaders will discuss "how to step up our preparations for a no-deal scenario" on Wednesday.

He added: "The fact that we are preparing for a no-deal scenario must not, under any circumstances, lead us away from making every effort to reach the best agreement possible, for all sides."

Mrs May spokesman has said the prime minister is looking forward to her face-to-face discussions with the European Council president in Brussels.

When asked about Mr Tusk's comments that the prime minister needs to lay out "concrete proposals", the spokesman added that Mrs May set out her position yesterday.

He said the summit is an "opportunity to set out that good progress has been made", and added: "We are committed to continuing to work hard to reach a deal."

Image: Talks are still blocked over how to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland

Germany's Europe minister Michael Roth has told Mrs May to "take responsibility" for the impasse in the negotiations.

He said his country was braced for "the worst" and that "we would not be preparing so hard for 'no-deal' if the outlook was more optimistic".

Mr Roth added that Theresa May should "take responsibility" for the Brexit talks stalling.

He said the EU had "gone a long way" towards the UK's position and been left with "limited room to manoeuvre" on the backstop plan to prevent a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

France also warned "time is running out" and that a deal would "probably not" be reached tonight.

While the European Council admitted that "clearly we are not in the place we wanted to be".

Wednesday's summit is the second last chance for them to sign off a breakthrough Brexit deal before the end of 2018.

The next scheduled meeting this year is mid-December.

There is a chance of a special summit being arranged for November, but a senior EU official said that was "not a given".

Timing is a particularly contentious issue domestically, as MPs complain they would not have long enough to scrutinise the final deal and try to send the government back to negotiate a better one if it rejects it.

Mrs May will take the floor in front of other leaders on Wednesday to sell her latest proposals, but then have to leave as they head to dinner and discusses how to proceed.

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt suggested yesterday no agreement would be reached by then, saying "one or two very difficult outstanding issues" remain.

Image: MPs fear they will not have enough time to scrutinise any final deal

"I think we can get there," he said.

"Whether we do this week or not, who knows?"

Ministers assembled in Downing Street on Tuesday this morning as the prime minister chaired a cabinet meeting, with Brexit the main item on the agenda.

A government source told Sky News they would be "pleasantly surprised" if a deal was struck this week.

It comes after Brexiteer ministers held a so-called "pizza summit" in Commons leader Andrea Leadsom's office to discuss support for Mrs May's plan - over a takeaway.

One source played down chances of imminent cabinet resignations, hailing it a "positive" meeting.