Brussels | The European Union and Britain on Tuesday (early Wednesday AEST) were hurtling toward a costly and damaging no-deal split in little over two months after kicking off a high-wire week of diplomacy by entrenching themselves deeper in irreconcilable positions.

The EU took only half a day to rebuff a four-page proposal by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to break a deadlock over ensuring a transparent border between the EU's Ireland and the UK's Northern Ireland, saying one key part was "incorrect," and another "misleading."

AAP