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14th Nov 2018

DUP fear that Brexit could ‘lead to the break-up of the United Kingdom’

Paul Moore

Brexit

The party are very concerned.

The DUP are concerned that the draft Brexit deal could lead to the break-up of the UK.

In an interview with Sky News, DUP Leader Arlene Foster said: “It is worrying times, there’s no doubt about that. What we’ll be looking at is the text, hopefully we’ll actually get to see the text so that we can make our own judgment on that.

Foster adds that she has been in contact with Theresa May and that the British Prime Minister clearly understands the DUP’s perspective and standpoint.

“The Prime Minister is very clear about where we stand on all of this. As you know we’ve written to her, she’s very clear that we cannot be separated from the rest of the UK, either in terms of customs or indeed in terms of regulatory alignment either.”

Foster reiterated her commitment that Northern Ireland will not diverge from the UK and that they will not be forced to abide by the EU’s trade regulations and policies.

“Regulatory alignment would mean that we would diverge from the rest of the UK, we would stay in the single market, whereas the rest of the United Kingdom would not. We would have a democratic deficit insofar as we would be taking rules from the European Union and would have no way in influencing those rules.”

She adds: “It’s a question of whether we’re separating the union – whether we are dealing with the United Kingdom in a way that leaves us adrift in the future. As the leader of unionism in Northern Ireland I’m not about to agree to that.”

In terms of the Brexit vote within Northern Ireland, it’s worth noting that Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU.

The Remain side edged the vote by 55.77%.

Foster isn’t the only DUP member to express concerns over the draft Brexit deal because the party’s chief whip, Jeffrey Donaldson, told BBC Radio Four’s Today programme that “this deal has the potential to lead to the break-up of the United Kingdom and that is not something we can support.”

Since these comments were made by Foster and Donaldson, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has sought to reassure unionists that there is no constitutional threat to the integrity of the UK.

Varadkar addressed Dáil Éireann and said: “I know many unionists may be feeling vulnerable, isolated and many may be quite worried about what may be agreed in the coming days,” he added.

“I want to say to them – the Good Friday Agreement will be protected – it includes a recognition of the fact we respect the territorial integrity of the UK and the principle of consent, that there will be no change to the constitutional status of Northern Ireland unless a majority of people say so.”

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