DUP leader Arlene Foster has taken the unusual step of putting out a formal statement rebutting The Times story this morning which claimed that the DUP are “edg[ing] towards customs union”. Foster attacks it as “inaccurate” and “no doubt designed to undermine efforts to get the necessary changes to the Withdrawal Agreement”.
She dismisses the story “as an attempt to cause division”, adding that “such tactics are not new to us and as in the past will not succeed”. Robust…
Today’s power look of choice in Westminster is a striking red jacket coupled with a circular necklace, as modelled by both Andrea Leadsom and Arlene Foster this morning. The fierce red jacket and shiny round necklace combo help project tenacity, authority, and fearlessness for any aspiring powerbroker to face down the Prime Minister or Speaker of their choice. Results may vary…
While the country anxiously waits for the result of tonight’s confidence vote, it is worth remembering that the problems of May’s deal, and particularly the backstop, have not gone away. However, Brexiteers hoped to do just that with the launch of a new 59-page report this morning, complete with 6 annexes including a fully drafted alternative Irish backstop protocol, by “Brexiteers’ Brain” Shanker Singham, lawyer Robert MacLean and Dutch customs expert Hans Maessen. It is not a wishlist, it is a fully legally operable text…
Also on hand to launch the report were former Brexit Secretary David Davis, former Northern Ireland minister Shailesh Vara, and crucially, DUP leader Arlene Foster. The bottom line is that even if May survives tonight’s vote, she has no majority in Parliament without the DUP’s support. If the Government are going to get their deal through they need to start listening to alternative proposals instead of just sticking their fingers in their ears…
#Brexit: We may review confidence and supply agreement, says DUP leader
Arlene Foster talks to #marr about the Commons vote on the Brexit deal
Read more: https://t.co/5I8XrwUvD3 pic.twitter.com/4VeWMzixsd
— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) November 25, 2018
Strongest words yet from the DUP leader…
Theresa May’s attempts at a further climbdown over the Irish border have run into trouble both among Brexiteers in her own party and her DUP allies. Her new proposal reported yesterday would see the whole UK remaining in the customs union beyond 2020 – “until” an Irish border solution that satisfies the EU is found. Many Brexiteers are surmising that this may well be never…
The DUP have been even more exercised by the other part of the plan which would create regulatory divergence and checks between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. After hitting out in an interview yesterday, Arlene poured further woe on May’s plan this morning, telling Today that the DUP’s red lines on the issue remained “blood red”:
MH: “It’s a question of how red your red line is?”
AF: “The red line is blood red, it’s very red.”
MH: “Then you would be prepared to walk through the lobbies with Jeremy Corbyn?”
Foster – a passionate Unionist – even refused to rule out voting with the IRA-sympathising Jeremy Corbyn in order to defeat any plan which involved carving off Northern Ireland. If May underestimates the strength of DUP resolve on the issue it could be fatal for her attempts to get a deal through…
“Northern Ireland must leave the EU on the same terms as the rest of the UK, we will not accept any form of regulatory divergence” – DUP leader Arlene Foster on #Brexit talks https://t.co/VKDYRXgOLk pic.twitter.com/e0FqI0NDq0
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) December 4, 2017
As of 2pm it looks like the UK has agreed to “regulatory alignment” on both sides of the Irish border, a compromise which is not the same as no divergence between Northern Ireland and the EU. The DUP are clear Northern Ireland must leave the EU on the same terms as the rest of the UK and they will not accept being separated economically from the rest of the UK. Lot of noise from Sturgeon and Remainers today. But all eyes are on the DUP and Cabinet Brexiteers when the formal statement comes later…
Attacking the government on education funding, @AngelaRayner says Arlene foster is the most expensive right winger since Cristiano Ronaldo. pic.twitter.com/5vH1K2V6D5
— BBC Parliament (@BBCParliament) July 4, 2017
He plays more on the left these days…
Paddy Power attempted to run this print advert offering a bet on the Conservative-DUP alliance to NOT survive 2017. Sadly it went almost as badly as Theresa May’s election campaign, after getting the heave-ho by not one, not two, but all of Britain’s newspapers. The advert in question pokes fun at the alliance, as well as at the DUP’s controversial stance on gay marriage, through an image of Theresa May and Arlene Foster kissing outside 10 Downing Street under the line: Unholy Union? Conservative-DUP Alliance To Not Survive 2017 – 3/1
You can’t blame them for their failed negotiations though – even the best would struggle. Isn’t that right, Theresa?
Following May’s dismal performance in the General Election earlier this month – which could be the kiss of death to her leadership – the British PM had been scrambling to secure a deal with the DUP to form a minority Conservative government. That deal was finally secured today but, with the alliance built on weak and wobbly foundations, Paddy Power are offering odds of just 3/1 (25% chance) for it to end this year.
Guido’s anonymous source on the Paddy Power marketing team says:
“After almost two weeks of negotiations, it looks like May and Foster have finally agreed on a deal, and what better way to seal it than with a kiss? Joking aside, we were surprised the newspapers didn’t take up our offer, as the subject matter has been on the nation’s lips ever since the general election.”
Newspapers were surprisingly prudish about this kiss ‘n tell story…
Content produced and sponsored by Paddy Power.
Ruth Davidson on working with PM Boris…
“I have worked with him when he was Foreign Secretary. I will work with whoever the Prime Minister is. I haven’t had a phone call yet to ask me to run his campaign in Scotland. I am not expecting the call. But I will genuinely judge him on the same criteria as I judge any of the candidates.”
