‘We have put Boris on the naughty step’ – DUP
Foster vows her party will oppose Brexit deal unless it’s renegotiated with EU
ARLENE Foster has warned the British prime minister the DUP will continue to say no to his Brexit deal unless he secures further concessions from Brussels.
Addressing her party conference in Belfast yesterday, Ms Foster demanded “honesty” from the UK government after reflecting on Boris Johnson’s speech to the same event last year, when he insisted he would not erect any new economic barriers in the Irish Sea.
Ms Foster joked the DUP had now put Mr Johnson on the “naughty step” by voting against his government twice in the last week.
Denouncing the regulatory and customs borders between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK contained in the prime minister’s deal, the DUP leader claimed it would take Northern Ireland in the “wrong direction”.
Ms Foster told delegates her party had the “boldness and strength to stand up and say no when we need to”.
“On Brexit, 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.
“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.
“But without change, we will not vote for the prime minister’s agreement.
“We have been clear and honest with the government throughout this process and we expect the same in return. The customs and consent arrangements must be revisited and a one-nation approach adopted.
“We worked intensively with the government over recent weeks to try to reach a fair and balanced deal.
“We were not seeking a perfect deal. No such deal exists. We were seeking a deal which delivered Brexit without erecting barriers to trade.”
The DUP leader also made clear her party could not live with the proposals for Stormont to give consent for extending the post-Brexit arrangements by way of a straight majority vote, rather than with the backing of a majority of unionists and a majority of nationalists.
“The one-sided approval mechanism for the Assembly takes no account of powersharing,” she said.
“Indeed, it would lead to Sinn Fein, the SDLP and the Alliance Party ganging up to render unionist votes irrelevant.”