Arlene Foster and Nigel Dodds hold the key to a Brexit deal

Arlene Foster and Nigel Dodds are currently the two most important politicians on the European continent. If the DUP is happy, there’ll be a Brexit deal between the UK and the EU. If it is not, it is hard to see how there can be—it is almost impossible to see how an agreement that they are opposed to can pass the Commons.

At the moment, the DUP have not said they are happy. I understand that there was some movement from the Irish on consent this morning. But that softening hasn’t yet been enough to win around the DUP. They would like something that would enable them to say that they – or at least Unionists more broadly—can end these arrangements if they want to. I am informed that Nigel Dodds is particularly exercised on this point. But the EU and the Irish, for obvious reasons, don’t want to sign up to something that gives the DUP a veto.

There are currently signs that there might be some further movement coming.