BRIGHTON - EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has said he is convinced Brexit will happen, reiterating that if Britain left the European Union without a deal there would be a new border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.

"I'm convinced that Brexit will happen," he told Sky News in an interview last week, before he had seen the ideas Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government sent to Brussels to try to push Brexit talks forward.

Asked whether there would be a new border between the British province of Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland if there was a no-deal Brexit, Juncker said: "Yes ... We have to make sure that the interests of the European Union and of the internal market will be preserved."

(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper and William James; Editing by Dale Hudson) ((elizabeth.piper@thomsonreuters.com; 07979746994; Reuters Messaging: elizabeth.piper.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))