Theresa May’s proposed Brexit deal would be rejected in the House of Commons, the Democratic Unionist party’s Brexit spokesman has said, after his party reacted angrily to a letter from the prime minister detailing her plans.
Sammy Wilson said suggestions in the letter, which had been leaked to the Times, that Northern Ireland could have a different regulatory regime to the rest of the UK under the Irish backstop clause, were unacceptable and Conservative backbenchers had concerns about other aspects of the arrangement.
“If she continues down the road of bringing something forward which is unacceptable to a large part of her own party and ourselves, then I think the inevitable consequence is that it will be voted down in the House of Commons,” he told Sky News.
The DUP, which May relies upon for her Commons majority, accused the prime minister of breaking a promise that that she would never sign up to a deal that treated Northern Ireland differently from the rest of the UK.
The party has seized on a particular paragraph in which May said she could not allow circumstances or conditions that could break up the UK customs territory to “come into force”.
The EU has insisted on a Northern Ireland-only “backstop to the backstop” in case negotiations on a wider UK approach break down. Any version of the backstop would apply unless and until a wider UK-EU deal on the future relationship solved the issue of how to avoid a hard border in Ireland.
Wilson said: “She is now contemplating signing up to a legal agreement which, regardless to her aspirations, would be binding on the government 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. From her letter, it appears the PM is wedded to the idea of a border down the Irish Sea with NI in the EU SM [single market] regulatory regime.”
The leak of the letter is seen by some observers, as well as the DUP, as part of a laying of the ground by the prime minister for a showdown with the party over checks in British ports, or factories in Northern Ireland or Great Britain.
Under the EU proposals, UK officials would be “competent authorities” to conduct the checks, but to EU rules, something the DUP has said will cross its red line.
However, government sources sought to play down the significance of the leaked letter, urging MPs to wait for the full text of the withdrawal agreement to be published.
That could happen within days, if the prime minister wins the backing of the cabinet for her negotiating stance.
A Downing Street spokesman said: “The prime minister’s letter sets out her commitment, which she has been absolutely clear about on any number of occasions, to never accepting any circumstances in which the UK is divided into two customs territories. The government will not agree anything that brings about a hard border on the island of Ireland.”
The row comes as Brexit is expected to dominate the agenda of the British-Irish Council, which will be attended by the Irish prime minister, Leo Varadkar, David Lidington, who is in effect May’s deputy, and the Northern Ireland secretary, Karen Bradley. The summit on the Isle of Man will also be attended by the first ministers of Scotland and Wales, Nicola Sturgeon and Carwyn Jones.
Brexit is also expected to be a focal point when May meets the French president for a working lunch after attending armistice commemorations in Belgium and France.
Downing Street has played down suggestions that a Brexit deal is imminent, after the European council president, Donald Tusk, appeared to indicate that a breakthrough could come within the next week.
Meanwhile, Eurosceptic Conservative MPs said they will still vote down the government’s Brexit agreement, even if May negotiates an exit clause from the Irish backstop.
The cabinet has been locked in a bitter internal wrangle about whether, and how, the government could extricate itself from the backstop, with some ministers concerned May’s plans could leave the UK in permanent limbo.
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