- Boris Johnson has suffered a blow to his proposed Brexit deal as the Democratic Unionist Party said it cannot support plans "as things stand".
Boris Johnson has suffered a blow to his proposed Brexit deal as the Democratic Unionist Party said it cannot support plans “as things stand”.
The support of the Northern Irish party is seen as crucial if the PM is to win Parliament’s approval for the deal in time for his 31 October deadline.
The DUP said it would continue to work with the government to try to get a “sensible” deal.
It comes as Mr Johnson heads to a crunch summit to get the EU’s approval.
On the EU’s side, the legal text of a draft Brexit deal is seen as being “pretty much ready”, the BBC’s Europe editor Katya Adler said.
But the UK government has yet to approve the documents and the DUP remains unhappy about elements of the prime minister’s revised plan for Northern Ireland.
In a joint statement released on Thursday, the DUP’s leader and deputy said discussions with the government were “ongoing”, but “as things stand, we could not support what is being suggested on customs and consent issues and there is a lack of clarity on VAT”.
“We will continue to work with the government to try and get a sensible deal that works for Northern Ireland and protects the economic and constitutional integrity of the United Kingdom,” Arlene Foster and Nigel Dodds added.
Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick said it was a “very sensitive moment in the negotiations”, and while there was still a “possibility” of a deal, it required “more hard work and more pragmatism on all sides”.
Mr Johnson’s proposals for a new Brexit deal hinge on getting rid of the controversial backstop – the solution to Irish border issues agreed by former PM Theresa May which proved unpalatable to many MPs.
However, his plans would see Northern Ireland treated differently from the rest of the UK – something the DUP, among others, has great concerns about.
The DUP has helped prop up the Conservative government since the 2017 general election.
In the past, a number of Tory Brexiteers have said their own support for a Brexit deal was contingent on the DUP’s backing of any agreement.
The BBC has learned that the draft Brexit deal has a mechanism enabling Northern Ireland to approve or reject the border plans.
This would give the Stormont Assembly the chance to vote on Brexit arrangements four years after the Brexit transition period ends in 2020.
But the DUP has demanded assurances around this so-called consent mechanism.
Mr Jenrick said there would be more “intensive” work in the “coming hours and days” to reassure parties.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Movements and compromises have been required, but we are close to an agreement.
“We now need to go back and see what more we can do to persuade each side so we can get this done.”
Mr Jenrick added: “It would be a huge missed opportunity to miss this chance to get Brexit over the line and to move on with the life of the country.”
As well as the DUP, Mr Johnson is also trying to secure support from Tory Brexiteers, most of whom are part of the European Research Group.
ERG chairman Steve Baker told reporters after a meeting in Downing Street on Wednesday evening his group “hope [to] be with the prime minister, but there are thousands of people out there who are counting on us not to let them down and we are not going to”.
“We know there will be compromises, but we will be looking at this deal in minute detail with a view to supporting it, but until we see that text, we can’t say.”
Former Attorney General Dominic Grieve, who wants any new deal to be put back to the public to approve, said it was not “realistic” for the prime minister to expect Parliament to scrutinise and approve a legal text on Saturday – even if Mr Johnson does manage to finalise the plan with the EU.
“I would normally expect there to be a week at least between a text being laid before Parliament and Parliament voting on such a matter of importance,” the backbench Conservative MP told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
The Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has said that if a deal cannot be completed at the two-day summit, European leaders could gather again before the end of the month to continue Brexit talks.
