Downing Street has played down the prospect of an early breakthrough in Brexit talks despite hopes of a compromise on the Irish backstop, as Boris Johnson prepares to meet the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker.

There has been a renewed drive in No 10 for an agreement since parliamentarians passed a law aimed at blocking a no-deal Brexit on 31 October and twice rejected Johnson’s demand for a snap general election.

However the government has no plans to publish any detailed written proposals as the prime minister seeks to avoid Theresa May’s fate of having her carefully constructed compromise shot down publicly by party colleagues.

Downing Street believes little compromise will be forthcoming from the EU side before the crucial European council summit on 17 October – and it plans to blame rebel parliamentarians if it does not materialise.

A Downing Street source said: “There’s no way they’re going to move yet – it’s going to be the 17th before we get any flash of light: but [Jeremy] Corbyn and his surrender bill has significantly diminished the chance of getting a deal.”

Efforts are focused on finding a way to allow customs and other checks to take place away from the Irish border, so that Northern Ireland can leave the EU customs union along with the rest of the UK. In return, Northern Ireland would remain within the EU’s regulatory orbit in key areas, including agriculture, a proposal Johnson has already signalled publicly.

Johnson hopes the Democratic Unionist party can be won over to some form of compromise, despite its previous objections to a border of any kind down the Irish Sea.

The party’s leader, Arlene Foster, insisted on Friday that the UK “must leave as one nation”, after a report in the Times suggested her party’s stance was softening.

Arlene Foster (@DUPleader) UK must leave as one nation. We are keen to see a sensible deal but not one that divides the internal market of the UK. We will not support any arrangements that create a barrier to East West trade. Anonymous sources lead to nonsense stories. #frontpages

The government hopes that once power-sharing is restored the Stormont assembly could also form part of a solution by giving democratic consent to any arrangements that keep Northern Ireland aligned with the EU.

But Ireland’s deputy prime minister cast doubt on that proposal on Friday. “There is certainly a concern at an EU level that a devolved institution in Northern Ireland could have a veto over how the single market operates, or a border on the single market operates, so it’s not as straightforward as some people are suggesting,” Simon Coveney said after a two-day party “think-in” in Cork.

Q&A What is a Northern Ireland-only backstop? Show Hide The British government’s version of Brexit involves the UK ultimately leaving the single market and customs union, requiring the return of a range of checks on goods crossing the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The “backstop” is intended as a standstill placeholder to ensure such checks do not have to be imposed between Brexit happening with a deal, and the start of a new free trade agreement yet to be negotiated between the UK and the EU. Theresa May's withdrawal agreement proposed keeping the whole of the UK in a shared customs territory with the EU during this period. An alternative idea involves only Northern Ireland staying in the EU’s customs territory. That would place a customs border in the Irish Sea. May described it as a threat to the constitutional integrity of the UK, but the new prime minister, Boris Johnson, has opened the current talks by proposing an all-Ireland agri-food zone. The suggestion is that he will seek to quietly build on that with further NI-only arrangements. Given an NI-only backstop was an EU proposal in the first place, the U-turn would be warmly welcomed in Brussels, although attempts to give the Northern Ireland assembly a veto on its continuation would not be acceptable, and the DUP would be unlikely to support the prime minister in such a move in parliament. If there is a no-deal Brexit, then there is no backstop. Daniel Boffey

Leo Varadkar, the taoiseach, said there was “ongoing contact with the DUP” and other parties in Northern Ireland and it is believed further talks at government level are scheduled next week. But he said he was not aware of any change in the unionists’ position over their refusal to accept any checks in the Irish Sea as a means of keeping the Irish border invisible.

Monday’s talks between Johnson and Juncker will take place at a lunch in the European commission president’s home country, where he was prime minister for 18 years. The EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, who recently called for “concrete proposals from Downing Street”, will join the two leaders. Johnson will then hold talks with the current prime minister of Luxembourg, Xavier Bettel.

EU sources suggested Johnson had sought to avoid a meeting in Brussels for fear of giving the impression that he was begging for concessions. A European commission spokeswoman said the location had been chosen by “common accord” and that it would allow Juncker the benefit of going straight from the talks to Strasbourg, where the European parliament is sitting next week.

She said the meeting was “taking place at a neutral location, which [we] will not disclose”.

Johnson’s communications team is understood to believe that May undermined herself in the public eye by making dashes to Brussels to seek movement in the negotiation.

EU officials are concerned about the lack of any detailed proposals from the UK side, despite early goodwill built up by Johnson in a series of one-to-one meetings with leaders.

They have also been watching the tumult in parliament over recent days. Johnson’s government was rocked this week by the Scottish court judgment that his suspension of parliament was illegal, and he was heckled at a speech in Rotherham on Friday.

Play Video 0:46 'Why aren't you in parliament?' Boris Johnson heckled in Rotherham – video

But Johnson’s advisers believe that despite the upheaval at Westminster, their domestic agenda – including increasing resources for schools and police – is beginning to register with voters in focus groups and polling.

Johnson is expected to switch the focus to law and order next week, as he continues to announce manifesto-ready pledges, in the expectation that MPs will eventually have to succumb to his desire for a general election, rather than allow him to continue to govern without a majority.