Blow for Theresa May as DUP MP says party backs year-long Brexit delay over her deal
2 min read
Theresa May’s Brexit deal has suffered a potentially fatal blow after a senior DUP MP confirmed the party would not back it if there is a fresh Commons vote this week.
Brexit spokesman Sammy Wilson said they would rather see a year-long delay to the process instead of being “locked into the prison” of the Prime Minister’s deal.
Downing Street had hoped to put Mrs May's withdrawal agreement to a third meaningful vote in the Commons on Thursday.
But Mr Wilson's comments, in an article for the Daily Telegraph, all-but kill off any hopes the Prime Minister had of securing a majority to pass it.
The DUP has consistently said it cannot support the deal while it contains the Irish backstop, an insurance deal guaranteeing no return to a hard border in Ireland.
Mrs May had been given some encouragement earlier on Tuesday when leading Brexiteers Jacob Rees-Mogg and Michael Fabricant had said they were finally ready to back Mrs May's deal rather than risk losing Brexit altogether.
In an apparent rebuke to them, East Antrim MP Mr Wilson said: “There are some colleagues who I admire greatly and who have stood firmly with us in defending Northern Ireland who now take the view that the Withdrawal Agreement, even though it is a rotten deal, is better than losing Brexit," he said.
“To them I say that, if the deal goes through, we have lost our right to leave the EU.”
Mr Wilson insisted that his party would not allow "the PM or the Remainer horde in Parliament to bully us into backing a toxic Brexit deal".
He continued: “Even if we are forced into a one-year extension, we at least would have a say on the things which affect us during that time and would have the right to unilaterally decide to leave at the end of that one-year period through the simple decision of not applying for a further extension.
“Surely this is a better strategy than volunteering to be locked into the prison of the withdrawal deal with the cell door key in the pocket of [the EU's chief Brexit negoiator] Michel Barnier?
“Besides, the fact remains that Brexit can only be lost if the Government decides to abandon pursuing negotiations to leave the EU.”
The intervention comes a day before MPs are due to hold a series of indicative votes to determine whether there is majority support in parliament for a route forward from the current deadlock.
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