Tag: British–Irish Council

He said: “I hope and I believe that we can secure that majority in parliament.” Lidington was speaking after the DUP’s Brexit spokesman, Sammy Wilson, said his party was prepared to vote against May’s deal. Brexit: Hunt says he is 'confident' UK and EU will reach deal within three weeks - Politics live Read more The Northern Irish party, upon which May upon for her Commons majority, had reacted angrily to suggestions in a letter from the prime minister, which had been leaked to the Times, that Northern Ireland could have a different regulatory regime to the rest of the UK if the Irish backstop comes into force. Wilson said Conservative MPs also had concerns about other aspects of the mooted deal. The DUP accused May of breaking a promise that she would never sign up to a deal that treated Northern Ireland differently from the rest of the UK. Secondly, it would be a legal agreement which the government of the UK could not walk away from – that could only be broken if the government in the UK and the EU agreed to it being changed.” The DUP leader, Arlene Foster, tweeted on Friday: “The PM’s letter raises alarm bells for those who value the integrity of our precious union & for those who want a proper Brexit for the whole UK. Under the EU proposals, UK officials would be “competent authorities” to conduct the checks, but it is something the DUP has said will cross its red line. If May can win the final backing of her cabinet for her negotiating stance, she hopes to strike a deal with the EU in the coming days. No-deal Brexit is only alternative to Chequers plan, says Lidington Read more That would include both a withdrawal agreement, governing the terms of Britain’s exit, and a political declaration about the future trading relationship the two sides hope to negotiate after Brexit. “I think that if we get the withdrawal agreement, and the accompanying political declaration, which I hope that we can secure in the weeks to come, that will create a new dynamic,” Lidington said. He continued: “It will no longer be a question of some hypothetical outcome, to which anybody might wish to add or subtract their own political preferences, but a pair of documents that will have been agreed and endorsed by the government of the United Kingdom, and by the 27 other governments of the member-states of the EU, led by politicians of left, right and centre.