New PM Johnson says Britain must prepare for no-deal Brexit

Britain must prepare for the possibility that it has to leave the European Union without a deal if the bloc refuses to renegotiate its exit accord, new Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday.

Johnson said he plans to get a new exit deal, although the EU has repeatedly insisted it will not reopen the agreement it reached last November with his predecessor Theresa May.

"I am convinced we can do a deal without checks at the Irish border, because we refuse under any circumstances to have such checks," he said in a speech on arriving in Downing Street.

"It is of course vital at the same time that we prepare for the remote possibility that Brussels refuses any further to negotiate and we are forced to come out with no deal, not because we want that outcome, of course not, but because it is only common sense to prepare."