DUP threatens to kill off Brexit deal

The DUP has threatened to sink Theresa May’s Brexit deal, warning that it will vote against any plan that introduces new checks on goods being shipped between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

Ms Foster told a Conservative Party conference fringe event that she would not allow Northern Ireland to become a “semidetached” part of the UK.

The comments severely limit the Prime Minister’s room for maneouvre, with the government having ruled out a hard land border and any new customs frontier in the Irish Sea.

Mrs May has three weeks to come up with legally enforceable proposals for a ‘backstop’ that maintains the status quo along the border in order to secure a Brexit withdrawal agreement from the EU.

In Birmingham, Ms Foster was cheered by Conservative delegates when she said: “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 semidetached part of the United Kingdom.

“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.”

Her warning was underlined by the party’s leader at Westminster, Nigel Dodds, who told the Guardian: “We will vote against it. We will vote for our red lines.”

The DUP leader also hinted that she could continue to provide a Commons majority to a Conservative Party led by someone else, saying: “In our confidence and supply agreement it is between the two parties, not reliant on any particular leader.”