Leader of the DUP Arlene Foster will not meet UK Prime Minister Theresa May today after yesterday’s scuppered attempt at a Brexit deal.
It briefly seemed as though a breakthrough Brexit deal had been made on Monday with the UK prepared to concede no economic “regulatory divergence” from the EU in Northern Ireland after the completion of Brexit.
The deal would likely have removed any need for a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.
However, the DUP, who currently support May’s government in Westminster, seemed to pull the rug out from beneath the deal, holding a press conference where Foster argued that “Northern Ireland must leave the EU on the same terms as the rest of the United Kingdom.”
Foster also accused the Irish government of “seeking to unilaterally change the Belfast Agreement (Good Friday Agreement) without our input or consent.”
According to the Telegraph, Foster has refused to fly to London today for crisis talks with May. They reported their source as saying “Arlene will come in when they are close to agreeing something. There is such a level of work to be done at the moment – it is not at a stage where Arlene would be involved as leader.”
DUP’s Westminster leader Nigel Dodds is scheduled to meet with UK government chief whip Julian Smith today.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
