DUP set to vote down Budget if May’s Brexit deal breaks red lines
The IMF’S warning that Brexit is a threat to the global economy cannot be dismissed as ‘Project Fear’
Democratic Unionist MPS who prop up Theresa May’s government are preparing to vote against her Budget if the Prime Minister breaks their Brexit red lines.
The radical move is understood to be one of the options being considered by the DUP if attempts to nail down a deal with Brussels include any proposals that would leave Northern Ireland being treated differently to the rest of the UK.
Losing the party’s support in the House of Commons would mean possible defeat on the budget and a no-confidence vote.
The development came as former foreign secretary Boris Johnson warned that a “backstop” arrangement for Northern Ireland being negotiated by the government would leave the UK “a permanent EU colony”.
In a series of tweets, Mr Johnson said that the deal would keep the UK in the customs union and Northern Ireland in the single market, and would mean increased checks on goods travelling between the province and the British mainland.
Repeating his call for Mrs May to ditch the plan agreed at her country residence in July, he said: “In the referendum both sides said Leave meant leaving the customs union and single market.
“Yet this backstop inevitably means Chequers, staying in both, no say in either, and no right to escape.”
DUP leader Arlene Foster insisted on Tuesday that her party would not accept customs or regulatory checks on goods travelling in either direction between Northern Ireland and Great Britain after
meeting EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels.
A DUP spokesman said: “The government is well aware of our position on this issue. Our position hasn’t changed and we don’t expect the government will change its position.”
Mr Barnier told a business audience in Brussels that agreement on a withdrawal deal was “within reach” at the crunch October summit of the European Council next week, with “80-85 per cent” of the accord now finalised.
But he made clear that the
DUP SPOKESMAN
EU envisages a deal involving new customs and regulatory checks on goods travelling from mainland Britain to Northern Ireland, including health and sanitary inspections for all animals and animal products arriving in ports like Larne and Belfast from the rest of the UK.
Mr Barnier said checks would be carried out “in the least intrusive way possible”, adding: “I understand why such procedures are politically sensitive but ... Brexit was not our choice, it is the choice of the UK.” The DUP has ten MPS, although Ian Paisley will not be able to vote until 20 November after being suspended for failing to declare two family holidays paid for by the Sri Lankan government.
Downing Street insisted that defeat on the budget would not amount to a vote of no confidence in the Government under the terms of the legislation which provides for fixedterm, five-year parliaments.
“Our position hasn’t changed and we don’t expect the government will change its position”
For more than two years, politicians, economists and other assorted commentators have warned about the dangers of Brexit to cries of “Project Fear!” from the Leave campaign.
But yesterday saw the International Monetary Fund list the UK’S impending departure from the European Union among the most important dangers facing the global economy.
Leaving aside overblown conspiracy theories, it is difficult to see why the IMF would be interested in spreading false scare stories; to do so would be to almost fraudulently undermine confidence in the world economy, an unthinkable step for such an august body.
Its latest report was not the only source of international concern. Brexit could prove to be a “disaster” for Spain, according to one of that country’s leading tourist officials. A no-deal scenario could ground flights, create visa problems, complicate health insurance and generally dissuade people from travelling. And, of course, the same applies for tourists travelling in the opposite direction.
Those who condemn Project Fear may sound convincing to some when considered within the context of political debate in the UK. But, when other countries and international experts express similar fears, they are genuine ones and must be taken seriously.
It beggars belief that those negotiating Brexit have left things so late, that so little progress has been made over the last two years.
As Theresa May’s weak government faced sniping from Boris Johnson about the UK becoming “a permanent EU colony” and threats from the DUP, the EU’S chief negotiator Michel Barnier yesterday stressed the need for “decisive” progress to be made before a crunch European Council summit next week.
Anyone who has grown too weary of the endless talk about Brexit to continue listening needs to wake up now, because the next few days may turn out to be absolutely crucial to the economic health of Britain for years to come. Our elected representatives need to know that they will be held to account by the public if they fail to act in the best interests of this country.
And there is little doubt that a no-deal Brexit would not be in our national interest. As Barnier said, Brexit is “a lose-lose game where nobody stands to win”. If the entire world is going to suffer, it is obvious the UK will suffer most.