Brexit: DUP Won't Back Withdrawal Deal

The DUP has confirmed it will not support Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal despite her promise to step down if MPs backed it.

The Stormont party said the "necessary changes" to the backstop have not been secured between Westminster and the European Union.

On Wednesday 27 March, the Prime Minister told Parliament she would stand down if they voted for her deal and would not see the UK through the next phase of negotiations.

Under the terms of the extension agreed with the EU, the deal must be passed by tomorrow, 29 March, if the UK is to be granted a further extension until 22 May. Otherwise, Mrs May will have only two weeks, until Friday 12 April, to return to Brussels with a new proposal or the UK will leave with no-deal.

The DUP issued a statement recognising the good discussions that had been made in recent days, but highlighting the "strategic risk" that Northern Ireland would be trapped in the backstop at the end of the implementation period.

The statement read: "The backstop if operational 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.

"We want to secure the United Kingdom's departure from, and our future relationship with, the European Union on terms that accord with our key objectives to ensure the integrity of the United Kingdom. 

"In our view the current withdrawal agreement does not do so and the backstop, which we warned this Government against from its first inception, poses an unacceptable threat to the integrity of the United Kingdom and will inevitably limit the United Kingdom's ability to negotiate on the type of future relationship with the EU."

Meanwhile, a Sinn Féin MP has accused the Democratic Unionists, who prop up the Conservative Government, as being detached from the reality of Brexit.

Speaking from Westminster, south Down MP Chris Hazard said on Wednesday: "Tonight, amid all the chaos in the British parliament with the British Prime Minister announcing her intention to resign, the DUP once again showed just how detached from reality they actually are. 

"The DUP are continuing to ignore the voices of the business sector, farmers, community organisations and a multitude of others who are raising genuine fears about the impact of a crash-out Brexit. 

"They need to stop, take stock, get a grip on reality and accept the fact that the Withdrawal Agreement is the only way to avoid a catastrophic crash-out."



(JG/CM)