From the offset, this week was described as one that would be hellish for Theresa May. However, the DUP have given fresh meaning to ‘hell week’ after embarking on a PR offensive to make their displeasure at the government’s Irish backstop proposals known. Today the Prime Minister meets with a select number of Cabinet ministers (those seen as supportive) to update them on the Brexit talks – but the people she desperately needs to win over are Arlene Foster and Nigel Dodds.
Foster and her colleagues have seen red after details have emerged of May’s backstop proposals. These proposals would see different regulatory systems for goods in Britain and Northern Ireland. With such a system, it’s hard to see how Northern Ireland could be part of new global trade deals the UK signs. Given that the DUP’s red line is that they don’t want an special treatment, this isn’t a goer.
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