AND STILL THE DUP WON’T SUPPORT HER
THE DUP was still refusing to back Theresa May’s Brexit deal last night after Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson was sent in for talks.
The Northern Irish party said the changes it wants to see to the backstop issue have still not been achieved, despite attempts by the Prime Minister.
They refused to back down even after Mrs May said she would step aside if MPs voted for the deal.
And last night, they reaffirmed that commitment despite Mr Williamson, who was previously chief whip and formed a good relationship with the DUP, being sent to sweet talk them. DUP leader Arlene Foster said that the party ‘ cannot sign up to something that would damage the Union’.
She added that the Prime Minister had decided to go ahead with a vote on the withdrawal agreement despite warnings by her party. In a statement, the DUP said it has had ‘good discussions in recent days’ and that ‘some progress on domestic legislation has been made’.
However, it added that ‘ necessary changes’ to the backstop had not been made and it would ‘not be supporting the Government if they table a fresh meaningful vote’.
Last night, there were rumours that some DUP MPs were flying back to London in order to vote against the deal. It is understood that they will vote against the deal, rather than abstain.
On Wednesday the DUP voted against changing the date the UK is due to leave the EU, from today to either April 12 or May 22.
The party said that while they want to secure Brexit, the terms have to be in accord with the integrity of the UK, reiterating that the backstop ‘has the potential to create an internal trade border within the United Kingdom and would cut us off from our main internal market, being Great Britain’.
Jacob Rees-Mogg has said he would back the deal if the DUP abstained from a final meaningful vote.