DUP warn May they won’t back border deal that ‘breaks up UK’
THERESA May’s bid to unblock Brexit talks was thrown into turmoil last night after her DUP allies warned they would vote against any deal involving checks in the Irish Sea.
Ministers are considering how regulatory checks could be used to break the deadlock in negotiations with Brussels.
It is thought the PM could suggest a compromise that involves checks on goods coming into Northern Ireland from Great Britain.
But Nigel Dodds, the DUP’s Westminster leader, said it would not accept the introduction of barriers between the mainland and Ulster.
He told a meeting at the Tory conference:
‘We are not bluffing on this’
‘We will vote against it. We will vote for our red lines.’
Mrs May has relied on the votes of the DUP’s ten MPs to pass legislation since she lost her majority in the general election.
DUP leader Arlene Foster yesterday said her party was ‘not bluffing’ about its staunch opposition to anything that would create a border between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
She said: ‘We have to ensure that there is no border down the Irish Sea, we have to continue to have the integrity of our country maintained from a constitutional point of view and also from an economic point of view.
‘We are not going to allow the United Kingdom to be broken up by Brussels or by anybody else. Northern Ireland is not about to become a semi-detached part of the United Kingdom.
‘[European Commission chief negotiator Michel] Barnier cannot annexe off part of the United Kingdom so he can say that that’s the way forward.
‘We are not bluffing on this issue. We are very clear, our job is to protect the union, our job is to do what is right for Northern Ireland and you can be assured that we will do that.’ Asked if she would accept any additional differences in how goods are regulated in Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, she said: ‘No, no, no no.’
The UK and the EU both want to avoid a ‘hard border’ - physical checks or infrastructure between Northern Ireland and Ireland – but cannot agree on how. Brussels has proposed a ‘ backstop’ that would see Northern Ireland remain in the customs union to ensure alignment with Ireland.
The British government has been adamant that it would never accept this as a permanent arranagement as it risks the break-up of the UK.
However, ministers have been careful not to completely rule out the prospect of regulatory checks in the Irish Sea to make sure goods travelling between Great Britain and Northern Ireland meet EU safety and quality standards. This possible compromise could potentially ensure that there need be no hard border.
Checks are already in place at the Irish Sea border for animal diseases such as rabies. However, Mr Dodds made clear yesterday the DUP would vote with Jeremy Corbyn against Mrs May’s Brexit deal if it involved checks on goods crossing the Irish Sea.
He said: ‘Let us be clear that for the DUP there will be no border of any kind down the Irish Sea – customs, regulatory, political, constitutional or otherwise because we are part of the UK and we will leave the EU together and as one nation.
‘We stick with what the Prime Minister said and she said no new regulatory barriers. The point about it is you can’t compromise the integrity of your country, you can’t compromise the economy of your country.’
He added: ‘One of things that has disappointed us greatly is the weaponisation of the Irish border issue and the Irish peace process by the Dublin government and by Brussels. This has been utterly shameful and disgraceful and has been something that has bedevilled the negotiations so far.’