DUP breaks silence over the new plan... and for once, it’s not saying ‘No’ (yet)

ANY Brexit deal that traps Northern Ireland in EU structures will not get DUP support, Arlene Foster has warned.

The comments come after a nun char a sc teri sis tic ally long silence from the party about a possible deal being in the offing.

In carefully worded comments, the DUP leader said her party would only back a withdrawal agreement that is in Northern Ireland’s ‘long-term economic and constitutional interests’.

Ms Foster acknowledged there had been a lot of speculation as to what had happened during Boris Johnson’s meeting with Leo Varadkar in England.

The positive read-out from Thursday’s encounter, followed by the intensification of UK and EU negotiations, has prompted suggestions both sides could be poised to make compromises on customs arrangements, to avoid border checks on the island of Ireland.

Responding to the developments, Ms Foster said Mr Johnson was aware of the DUP view that the UK had to leave the EU as ‘one nation’.

She made clear her party would exercise its ‘considerable influence’ in parliament to stand up for the region.

‘The United Kingdom EU referendum result delivered the people’s verdict and it must be delivered. To do otherwise would be anti-democratic,’ she said.

‘We have been consistent in our opposition to the backstop, whether UK or NI only, and anything that traps Northern Ireland in the European Union, whether Single Market or Customs Union, as the rest of the United Kingdom leaves will not have our support.’

She stressed the importance of Northern Ireland politicians giving democratic consent to any arrangement that might align the region with specific sectors of the single market.

‘It is important that the European Union understand that to maximise the prospects of agreement there will need to be a clear acceptance that the economic and constitutional integrity of the whole of the United Kingdom will have to be respected as we leave.’