Senior Democratic Unionist Party figures threatened to bring down the government over Brexit yesterday while telling EU leaders to ignore Irish claims that the peace process could be undermined.
Northern Ireland’s main unionist party set down the red lines after The Times suggested that a deal on the border was in sight if the government allowed Britain and Ireland to mirror each other’s rules on areas such as agriculture and energy.
It came as The Times obtained a letter from Arlene Foster, the DUP leader, to EU heads. Bypassing Theresa May, she tells them to ignore claims that the peace process is in peril.
“It is important to be clear that no threat exists to the Northern Ireland peace process,” it says. “Everyone’s focus should be on delivering practical solutions rather than exacerbating any difficulties.”
Michael Creed, Ireland’s agriculture minister, however, claimed that the border dispute was about more than just trade. “It’s hardwired into our DNA,” he said. “That is why we are insistent that sufficient progress is made.”
Talks over the border are at a critical juncture before Mrs May’s meeting with Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, on Monday, which could determine the fate of this month’s EU summit. Statements by the DUP and Dublin politicians, however, appeared to be raising the temperature.
Sammy Wilson, a DUP MP and hardline Brexiteer, told the BBC that the British government had to recognise that treating Northern Ireland differently “or leaving us half in the EU, dragging along behind regulations which change in Dublin . . . it’s not on”.
He said the prime minister could not rely on DUP support if there was “any hint that to placate Dublin and the EU, they’re prepared to have Northern Ireland treated differently”.
In a statement after an emergency meeting in No 10, Mrs Foster said the DUP would not countenance any arrangement that meant Northern Ireland mirrored Ireland’s rules, which would continue to be set by the EU. Behind the scenes, however, Mrs May is thought to have aligned more closely with the DUP position than that of Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister.
Simon Coveney, Ireland’s foreign affairs minister and deputy prime minister, repeated the threat to veto the move to trade talks this month unless sufficient progress was made. He said that the border question remained the “big stumbling block”.
The row has prompted warnings from MPs in London. Nicky Morgan, the Tory MP, said: “The DUP support Brexit. How on earth did they think it would be delivered without the UK’s only land border with the EU being an issue? They need to support the PM in coming up with a solution.”
One diplomat from a European capital who supports the move to trade talks this month said: “This a lesson in how not to do diplomacy.”
