UK urges EU to seek Brexit compromise

Britain's foreign secretary says the EU should work with Britain to try to find a way to make Prime Minister Theresa May's proposals work.

Theresa May says the EU must lay out the real Brexit issues and its alternative to her exit plan. (AAP)

Britain's foreign secretary has urged European Union leaders to "step back from the abyss" and seek a compromise over Brexit.

Jeremy Hunt told the BBC on Saturday the EU should work with Britain to try to find a way to make Prime Minister Theresa May's "sensible, concrete proposals actually work."

He spoke one day after May used a rare televised address to complain the EU was acting in bad faith by rejecting her proposed Brexit plan without offering an alternative.

The two sides remain far apart over the Irish border issue and trade matters.

A gathering of EU leaders in Salzburg not only failed to make progress but led to bitter recriminations.

The impasse has raised the prospects that Britain will leave the EU in March without a deal.