DUP threatens to end Tory alliance as it promises to roll out red carpet for Boris
ARLENE FOSTER has threatened to end the DUP deal keeping the Government afloat if the Prime Minister’s Brexit deal passes through Parliament.
Last night the Democratic Unionist Party leader said she would review the confidence and supply agreement unless Theresa May ditched the Irish backstop and returned to Brussels to secure a better deal.
On the eve of the DUP’S annual conference in Belfast, Ms Foster dismissed suggestions that a no-deal Brexit would automatically lead to a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic, telling the BBC that the issue had taken on “mythical status”. Her intervention, just hours before Mrs May goes to Brussels to finalise her deal with the leaders of the 27 EU member states, will heighten fears in Downing Street that the DUP will end its support and with it the Government’s majority in Parliament.
It comes as Boris Johnson prepares to address the DUP’S supporters in Belfast today, during which he will praise Ms Foster’s opposition to the deal and warn the Prime Minister’s plan risks tearing the Union apart.
Last night, Sammy Wilson, the DUP’S Brexit spokesman, said his party would “raise the roof” for Mr Johnson, declaring Mrs May’s deal was dead in the water. Meanwhile, Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, last night held crunch talks with Ms Foster and her party’s Westminster leader Nigel Dodds after arriving in Belfast.