The EU’s chief negotiator has said a Brexit deal could still be struck this week despite it becoming “more difficult” to reach an agreement.

Michel Barnier said it was “time to turn good intentions into legal text”.

Mr Barnier, who will update EU ministers at a meeting in Luxembourg later, has previously said “big gaps” remained between the UK and EU.

The BBC’s Adam Fleming said he understood the UK has shared a new text of its customs proposals with the EU.

Discussions between officials aimed at settling the terms of the UK’s withdrawal have intensified in recent days, with nearly 12 hours of talks on Monday.

Hopes of a deal being agreed before the 31 October Brexit deadline were boosted after a meeting between Boris Johnson and his Irish counterpart last week.

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Mr Johnson is trying to hold together a coalition of Conservative Brexiteers and Democratic Unionists in support of his proposed alternative to the Irish backstop – the arrangement designed to keep an open border in Ireland which has been rejected three times by MPs.

The DUP leader, Arlene Foster, had more than an hour of talks in Number 10 on Monday night with the Prime Minister discussing the ongoing Brexit talks.

Speaking in Luxembourg on Tuesday morning, Mr Barnier said an agreement “will be more and more difficult but it is still possible this week”.

“Reaching an agreement is still possible but obviously any agreement must work for everyone – for all of the UK and the whole of the EU,” he added. “It is high time to turn good intentions into legal text.”

The UK’s Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay said both sides needed to be given the “space” to work through their detailed discussions and a “deal was still possible”.

The two sides are in a race against the clock, with EU leaders wanting to sign off any agreement at a two-day summit starting on Thursday.

Finland’s prime minister, Antti Rinne, who holds the EU’s rotating presidency, said on Monday there was not enough time for a deal to be reached by then.

After meeting the European Council’s president-elect Charles Michel, Mr Rinne said: “I think there is no time in a practical or legal way to find an agreement before the EU Council meeting. We need more time.”

Cabinet delayed

With talks in Brussels ongoing, a Cabinet meeting expected to take place on Tuesday has been postponed and is now likely to take place on Wednesday. Downing Street sources say it is to allow for a fuller update on Brexit.

The two-day EU summit is crucial because the prime minister must get a new deal approved by MPs by Saturday if he is to avoid asking for a Brexit delay.

The Benn Act passed by MPs opposed to no-deal says he must ask for an extension to the Brexit deadline if MPs do not back a deal by then.

However, Mr Johnson has repeatedly ruled out requesting such an extension, prompting speculation that he may seek to sidestep the legislation. Labour has threatened court action to force the PM to obey the legislation.

Regardless of what happens in Brussels, a showdown is anticipated in an emergency sitting of Parliament on Saturday – the first in 37 years.

MPs will be able to back or reject any deal presented to them, or there will be discussions on what to do next.

‘Mood change’

Ex-foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt said while he hoped an agreement could be reached and the necessary legislation passed to implement it by 31 October, it would be “very difficult” given how little time was left.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today that an extension of a “few days” might be acceptable to many Conservatives as it would make clear “the end was in sight”.

But leader of the House of Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg said legislation required to ratify any agreement would be “relatively easy to pass” if MPs agreed to a deal on Saturday.

He suggested the mood was changing in Parliament and after more than three years of disagreement and rancour “everyone is desperate to finish this”.

“The votes are now there for a deal,” he said. “There is just a mood in the country that we want to get on with this and politicians have to be sensitive to that mood.”

He warned ex-Conservative MPs reportedly considering forcing the PM to ask for a delay in order to enshrine the withdrawal deal in law, saying they would be seen as blocking Brexit.

Timeline: What’s happening ahead of Brexit deadline?

Thursday 17 October – Crucial two-day summit of EU leaders begins in Brussels. This is the last such meeting currently scheduled before the Brexit deadline.

Saturday 19 October – Special sitting of Parliament and the date by which the PM must ask the EU for another delay to Brexit under the Benn Act, if no Brexit deal has been approved by MPs and they have not agreed to the UK leaving with no-deal.

Thursday 31 October – Date by which the UK is currently due to leave the EU.