DUP privately agree to support Theresa May’s ‘Plan B’ Brexit deal when she ‘toughens it up’ ahead of crunch Commons vote
THE DUP have privately decided to back Theresa May’s Brexit deal next week when she toughens it up, in a major breakthrough for No10.
The Sun can reveal that delicate deliberations are now ongoing between the Ulster unionist party’s leaders and the PM.
They are close to agreeing an amendment to another showdown Commons vote on Tuesday that would curtail the unpopular Irish backstop – an insurance policy that divides the UK into two different legal regimes if there is no EU trade deal in place by 2021.
In a crucial shift, it has emerged that the DUP are now willing to accept a backstop as long as it’s specifically time limited. In another twist last night, Tory grandees told The Sun they have tabled a new Brexit plan of their own in a bid to end the Conservatives’ civil war.
The group, lead by 1922 Committee chairman Sir Graham Brady, have issued a fresh call on the PM to get the backstop removed altogether. Mrs May has agreed to go back to Brussels to demand fresh concessions to the Withdrawal Agreement if that’s what MPs decide is needed to end the deadlock.
Senior DUP figures say they now fear pro-Remain Tory MPs will side with Labour to deliver a significantly softer Brexit if the PM’s deal is voted down on Tuesday. The party’s 10 MPs are also under spiralling pressure from grass roots members and their Stormont politicians to agree to a deal to hold off growing Republican calls for a reunification referendum under a no deal Brexit.
Revealing the significant shift towards the PM, a senior DUP source told The Sun: “If she fails on Tuesday, Parliament will take over and we lose any semblance of a decent Brexit. We have to help her now, so we’ll vote with the Government if they agree the right amendment. That’s looking like a short time limit to the backstop at the moment.”
The DUP’s public support for Mrs May’s deal is seen as crucial, after dozens of rebel Tory MPs pledged to vote in solidarity with their unionist cause.
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But a backstop time limit – even of 12 months - would not win over all Tory hardliners, including European Research Group chair Jacob Rees-Mogg who has demanded its total removal.
Sir Graham told The Sun his new plan in a different amendment tabled last night was a bid to create Tory unity after months of bitter feuding.
The amendment – also backed by No10 loyalists ex-First Minister Damian Green and Northern Ireland Committee chair Andrew Murrison – asks for the backstop to be replaced with “alternative arrangements to avoid a hard border”.
Sir Graham told The Sun: “It has been obvious for a long time that the most serious problem arising from the Withdrawal Agreement was a backstop arrangement that could trap Britain in the wrong relationship with the EU in perpetuity.
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“I’ve tabled this amendment to remove the backstop and replace it with alternative arrangements. I hope that it will bring together the broadest spectrum of Conservative and unionist opinion.”
It has also emerged that another senior Brexit hardliner Boris Johnson is close to backing a backstop time limit. The ex-Foreign Secretary held long talks with Government Chief Whip Julian Smith on Wednesday. But other ERG members are resisting, as a serious split emerges in the group.
Hardliner and ex-Brexit Minister David Jones said: “As long as the backstop remains in the Withdrawal Agreement, there will be no Withdrawal Agreement”.
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