British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said there was every chance of striking a new Brexit deal with the European Union and that he wanted a grand new trade deal too. 

"What we want to do is to make it absolutely clear that the backstop is no good, it's dead, it's got to go. The withdrawal agreement is dead, it's got to go. But there is scope to do a new deal," Johnson said during a visit to a naval base in Scotland. 

"What we want need to do is to build a new partnership with all the things that matter to us, sharing cooperation on defense, on security, on intelligence, cultural, scientific collaboration, everything that you would expect," Johnson said. 

"At the core of it all a new free trade deal that allows us to take back control of our tariffs and our regulations and to do things differently where we want to," he said.

Johnson also ruled out another referendum on Scottish independence after the 2014 vote. 

"This was a once-in-a-lifetime, once-in-a-generation thing, everybody was told that," he said. "It was on that basis that they cast their votes and I think it would be totally wrong now to break that promise to the people of Scotland and the UK and have another referendum." 

His spokeswoman said earlier on Monday that Johnson is waiting for EU leaders to agree to renegotiate their Brexit deal before he meets them. 

"He obviously wants to meet EU leaders and negotiate but not to be sat down and told that the EU cannot possibly reopen the withdrawal agreement," the spokeswoman said. 

Johnson, who took office last week, wants to change the exit terms struck by his predecessor Theresa May but insists he will leave the European Union without any agreement at all if necessary on October 31.  

Brussels says it will not reopen the text.

"The withdrawal agreement has been rejected by parliament a number of times now and clearly it's not going to pass in its current form," the spokeswoman said. "It needs to change if there's going to be a deal." 

Opposition among MPs is focused on the "backstop" arrangement intended to keep open the border between British Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland. Brussels says this is vital for peace in Northern Ireland, which was once plagued by violence. But critics say it risks keeping Britain tied to EU rules long after Brexit and erecting trade barriers between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.   

"The backstop has to be abolished," Johnson's spokeswoman said. "He remains confident that the EU will stop claiming that the withdrawal agreement cannot be changed, but until that happens we must assume there will be a 'no deal' Brexit on October 31.  

"The government's central focus is preparing for that," she stressed.