... but huge blow as DUP still says No
THE Democratic Unionists dealt a hammer blow to Theresa May’s hopes of getting Brexit through after they announced they would not be supporting her deal.
In an explosive intervention, leader Arlene Foster said the DUP could not back the withdrawal agreement because it ‘poses a threat to the integrity of the UK’.
She told Sky News the deal was unacceptable because the changes they wanted to the backstop had not been secured.
‘What we can’t agree to is something that threatens the Union, that has a strategic risk to the Union,’ she said.
‘For us … the Union will always come first and that has been the issue right from the beginning of all of this.’
And her deputy Nigel Dodds confirmed the party would not be abstaining in any vote on the deal, meaning all ten of their MPs would be voting against. He tweeted: ‘The DUP do not abstain on the Union.’
The announcement could scupper Mrs May’s plans to bring her deal to the House for a third time tomorrow.
The Northern Irish party’s decision is vital to the Prime Minister’s hopes of suc- cess because many Eurosceptic backbenchers have said they will only support the deal if the DUP does so. Jacob ReesMogg, for example, said yesterday: ‘If the DUP abstained I would feel entitled to back [the deal].
‘If the DUP were still against it, I would not feel able to back it.’
Talks were continuing last night between the party and ministers amid hopes of a last-minute change of heart by the DUP.
Its statement came as a surprise because there had been signs that negotiations with the Government were going well.
It said: ‘Given the fact that the necessary changes we seek to the backstop have not been secured between the Government and the European Union, and the remaining and ongoing strategic risk that Northern Ireland would be trapped in backstop arrangements at the end of the implementation period, we will not be supporting the Government if they table a fresh meaningful vote. The backstop if operational has the potential to … cut us off from our main internal market, being Great Britain. It … poses an unacceptable threat to the integrity of the United Kingdom.’
There had been signs of progress in talks between the Unionists and Mrs May’s de factor deputy David Lidington. It is understood the two sides had reached agreement on a ‘Stormont Lock’, under which new EU laws applied in Northern Ireland would be accepted by the rest of the UK under the backstop arrangements.
The Chancellor is also understood to be considering scrapping air passenger duty for flights from Ulster which, it is argued, puts the province at a competitive disadvantage to the Republic of Ireland. Ministers have also agreed to plough hundreds of millions of pounds more in funding into Belfast.
However, it is believed some DUP MPs had a change of heart after Speaker John Bercow said he might not allow a third meaningful vote.
‘Unacceptable threat to the UK’s integrity’