Northern Ireland still hampering Brexit deal
European Union allows another extension
LONDON — Boris Johnson’s allies in Northern Ireland vowed Saturday to keep rejecting the British prime minister’s divorce deal with the European Union until his government wins more concessions from the bloc.
Arlene Foster, the leader of Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, said she demanded honesty from the British government. She told her party conference in Belfast that regulatory and customs borders between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom were not acceptable.
“We will not give support to the government when we believe they are fundamentally wrong and acting in a way that is detrimental to Northern Ireland and taking us in the wrong direction,” she said. “We will oppose them and we will use our votes to defeat them.”
Her comments are important because Johnson needs more votes in Parliament than just his Conservative party to get his Brexit deal passed.
“Let me say clearly from this platform today that we want to support a deal that works for the whole of the United Kingdom and which does not leave Northern Ireland behind,” she said. “But without change, we will not vote for the prime minister’s agreement.”
Parliament has already dealt Johnson a series of setbacks and derailed his promise to take Britain out of the EU by the end of the month “come what may.” Johnson has now pinned his hopes on an early general election, calling for one on Dec. 12, but how Britain will solve its Brexit stalemate is still completely up in the air.
Less than a week before Britain is scheduled to leave the EU, ambassadors from the bloc’s 27 other nations agreed to grant the U.K.’s request for another extension to the Brexit deadline — but they did not settle on how long that delay should be.
Britain is scheduled to leave the 28-nation bloc on Oct. 31 after its original March 29 departure date was postponed twice. The U.K. has asked for a three-month extension as Johnson struggles to get lawmakers to pass the divorce deal he agreed upon with the bloc.
Meanwhile, political tensions are growing. Britain’s main opposition party said Saturday that Johnson can’t be trusted to protect workers’ rights and environmental standards after the country leaves the EU.
The Financial Times reported Saturday that Johnson’s Conservative government plans to diverge from EU safety regulations, citing a leaked government document that says rules on workers’ rights and environmental protection leave “room for interpretation.”