Johnson in Dublin for Brexit talks amid Cabinet crisis

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was set to meet his Irish counterpart in Dublin on Monday for talks on the Northern Ireland backstop after a weekend that saw Work & Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd resign in protest over his handling of Brexit.

It will be Johnson's first meeting with the Irish taoiseach Leo Varadkar since he became prime minister. He was also expected to again ask parliament to agree a snap general election after his first attempt was soundly rejected last week.

A law tabled by opposition parties and rebel Tory MPs preventing a no-deal Brexit was expected to receive final approval on Monday, although government ministers said they would test the legislation "to the limit".

Johnson has demanded that the backstop, the insurance policy in the withdrawal deal with the European Union, be scrapped or Britain will leave without an agreement on October 31.

Irish finance minister Paschal Donohoe said Johnson needed to offer alternatives for a replacement to the backstop. Johnson insists that technology could be used, although this was disputed by Dublin.

"We have yet to see examples of how they would work, not only on our own island but indeed anywhere else in the world," Donohoe told the BBC.

Johnson last week lost his parliamentary majority, four key votes in parliament, the support of his own brother, who quit his ministerial post, and effectively sacked 21 moderate Conservative MPs when they supported the no-deal Bill.

His authority was further eroded over the weekend when Rudd, who voted to remain in the EU, quit her ministerial post and the party, accusing the prime minister of an "assault on decency and democracy".

Even some of Johnson's pro-Brexit hard right supporters have privately expressed unease at the putsch of the rebel, who included Winston Churchill's grandson Sir Nicholas Soames, and parliamentary veteran Ken Clarke.

"I cannot stand by as good, loyal moderate Conservatives are expelled. I have spoken to the PM and my association chairman to explain," Rudd said on social media.

Her decision to join Johnson's right-wing administration raised eyebrows, as did her decision to back a no-deal scenario and the suspension of parliament, especially so swiftly after saying the latter was "an absolutely outrageous idea".

In her resignation letter to Johnson, Rudd said she had joined Cabinet "in good faith: Accepting that 'no deal' had to be on the table, because it was the means by which we would have the best chance of achieving a new deal to leave on 31 October".

"However I no longer believe leaving with a deal is the government's main objective."

Johnson wants a new election on October 15, but opposition parties have claimed this is a trap as Johnson could, under UK law, change the date and allow Britain to crash out without a deal.

The prime minister needs two-thirds of lawmakers to support an early election. Opposition parties have said they would either vote against or abstain until the no-deal Bill is implemented.