Any Northern Irish backstop will be temporary: minister

British health minister Matt Hancock said on Sunday any backstop arrangement to prevent a hard border with Ireland following Brexit would be temporary, adding there were different ways to make something "credibly time-limited".

"It's important where we have a backstop that that both reflects the integrity of the UK with respect to the customs union and customs arrangement and also that it's temporary," Hancock told the BBC's Andrew Marr show, declining to say whether there would be an expiry date for the backstop.

"We're coming into the final days and weeks of these negotiations ... everybody needs to get behind the prime minister and pull behind her because she is trying to deliver the best deal for Britain."