From the Guardian:
EU ambassadors told Brexit deal still not yet agreed because of deadlock over whether backstop temporary
Daniel Boffey
EU ambassadors being debriefed by Michel Barnier, the bloc’s chief negotiator, have been told that there is no deal, and that there are serious remaining issues over the Irish border question.
The meeting in Brussels is ongoing.
The Brexit secretary, Dominic Raab, was with Barnier for just over an hour before the briefing.
One senior EU diplomat said that the British did not believe they had enough on the temporary nature of the customs union aspect of the backstop to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland. The UK wants it to be time-limited, but Brussels is resisting.
“Raab had come here for a concession”, the diplomat said. “They don’t have enough.”
The source did not dissuade me from the view that much of this is political theatre designed to help the prime minister sell the backstop at a later date back home.
However a meeting of the leaders’ ‘sherpas’, the officials who are the most senior heads of state and government, that was due to take place on Monday afternoon to sign off on any deal, has now been cancelled. That is ominous.
(Bold added by me)