Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
PM hears competing backstop demands
THERESA May faced competing demands to both purge and protect the border backstop as she met Northern Ireland’s political leaders.
The Prime Minister held talks with the five main Stormont parties in Belfast yesterday as she continued efforts to salvage her Brexit deal.
DUP leader Arlene Foster, whose 10 MPS prop up the Conservative Government at Westminster, said: “We want a deal which respects the Union and the referendum result. Our message was very simple. The draft Withdrawal Agreement is flawed because the backstop would undermine the economic and constitutional integrity of the United Kingdom.”
However, Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou Mcdonald added the backstop remained the “bottom line” and accused Mrs May of coming to Belfast with “no plan, no credibility and no honour”.
SDLP chief Colum Eastwood agreed with that stance, saying: “We made it very clear there are no alternatives to the backstop.”
UUP leader Robin Swann, who is opposed to the terms of the backstop, called for the PM to impose direct rule if there is a no-deal.
And he claimed Mrs May appeared reluctant to talk about efforts to restore power-sharing at Stormont.
Alliance Party leader Naomi Long expressed impatience at what she termed a lack of progress in the two years since the UK voted to leave.