DUP denies it would soften position on Irish backstop
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has denied reports it would accept some EU regulations after Brexit as part of a new deal to replace the backstop.
The Times reported that the DUP was prepared to “shift its red lines” by accepting some EU rules and dropping its objections to regulatory checks in the Irish Sea.
Read more: Boris, Brexit and the backstop: What happens next
The concessions were being considered in a bid to help Prime Minister Boris Johnson unlock a new Brexit deal, according to the report.
But the DUP today shot down the report, saying the party would only accept EU laws if the Northern Ireland Assembly could pick and choose – a condition Ireland and the EU have repeatedly rejected in the past.
“[The] UK must leave as one nation,” DUP leader Arlene Foster wrote in a tweet. “We are keen to see a sensible deal but not one that divides the internal market of the UK.
She added: “We will not support any arrangements that create a barrier to east-west trade. Anonymous sources lead to nonsense stories.”
DUP Brexit spokesperson Sammy Wilson also dismissed the idea of a Northern Ireland-only backstop.
“It won’t be a backstop by any other name either,” he told the BBC. “We will not be accepting separate arrangements that cut us off from UK.”
“The only different arrangements that we will accept for Northern Ireland are those where the Assembly has total scrutiny of any EU legislation, decides it’s in the interests of Northern Ireland, and doesn’t damage our relationship with the UK,” he said.
“In those situations we will consider adopting appropriate legislation if we believe it is to the advantage of industry in Northern Ireland.”
The issue of the backstop – the policy designed to prevent a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland after Brexit – has been thrown into sharp relief in recent days.
With Johnson vowing to take the UK out of the EU with or without a deal, some politicians have viewed the backstop as the best chance of securing a deal.
Read more: Brexit: Leaked report claims all backstop alternatives have concerns
Yesterday European Parliament president David Sassoli said he was willing to revisit the idea in a bid to break the deadlock.
However, the Prime Minister has insisted that the UK will not accept the backstop.
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