Foster hung out to dry by Tory pals

WE might just be finally approaching endgame in the long and torturous Brexit negotiations.

A letter leaked to The Times newspaper indicated Prime Minister Theresa May is prepared to allow the EU to impose specific regulatory checks on goods entering the North as part of the controversial backstop.

This has angered the DUP whose 10 MPS have propped up the Tory Government for the past 18 months.

The hardline unionists have been warned any deal will inevitably involve compromise but Arlene Foster’s party have already ruled out supporting anything that would impose a border down the Irish Sea.

The British insist they would not allow the North to be carved off by the EU in remaining in the customs union and the single market.

But make no mistake, while these proposals won’t break the union, they could over time loosen the economic ties which bind the North to Britain.

Many people – not just republicans – are talking about a United Ireland. It’s a consequence of Brexit that those who campaigned for Britain’s withdrawal from the EU – not least the DUP – may not have thought through fully.

How ironic then that the party founded by the firebrand Ian Paisley may have helped start the process that broke up the United Kingdom.