The Prime Minister and Brexit Secretary David Davis went to Brussels today in the hope of striking a deal on the size of the EU exit bill, citizen’s rights and the Irish border. 

After having lunch with Theresa May, the European Commission President announced that the UK and Brussels had failed to reach a deal today. 

Jean-Claude Juncker said: “Despite our best efforts and significant progress we and our teams have made over the past few days on the main withdrawal issues, it was not possible to reach a complete agreement today.” 

But he said that the discussions today were “not a failure” and he remained confident that the UK and Brussels could reach a deal during the course of this week. 

The UK and Ireland appeared on the brink of a deal on the Irish border earlier today. But the Prime Minister has now asked for more time. 

The request for extra time came after a strong statement from DUP, which is propping up Mrs May's minority Conservative Government. 

DUP leader Arlene Foster reiterated that Northern Ireland must leave the EU on the same terms as the rest of the UK. 

She said: "We will not accept any form of regulatory divergence which separates Northern Ireland economically or politically from the rest of the UK." 

At the same time, Ireland is standing firm and calling for "regulatory alignment" with Northern Ireland to prevent a hard border. 

There are reports there could be emergency talks between Tories and the DUP in the coming days. 

A further delay at this stage will increase the chances of a no deal at all - a possibility that could rattle the financial markets. 

It could also be a fatal blow for Ms May’s fragile minority government, which is deeply divided on Brexit and relying on the DUP for support. 

Failure to reach a deal could lead to calls for Mrs May to resign and would give more leverage to Remainers fighting to stop the EU exit. 

Mr Juncker said that he remains confident that "significant progress" will be possible before the next EU summit despite missing a deadline set by Donald Tusk. 

Mr Tusk, the European Council President, had made it clear that today was the deadline for the EU’s Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier to recommend moving on to the next stage on trade and future ties.

“Tusk presented the timeline ahead of the December European Council, with Dec. 4 as the absolute deadline for the UK to make additional efforts, allowing Barnier to be in a position to recommend sufficient progress,” an EU official said.

Mr Juncker's statement today suggests that there is the scope for sufficient progress to be made later this week in time for the EU summit. 

The other 27 countries in the EU are set to make a decision on whether to allow the UK to start trade talks during the summit on December 14 and 15. 

The EU has always said that this will only happen if there is “sufficient progress” on the cost of the EU exit bill, citizens’ rights and the Irish border.  

If the EU countries once again refuse permission for talks to move on to the next stage, the impasse will stretch well into the new year. 

The UK would be forced to wait until a special summit or the next scheduled EU summit in March for trade talks to be approved. 

Britain does not want to wait for March for approval because this would be one year to go before the UK must leave the EU in March 2019.