“This is too important to be playing around with things because this is the union - this is what brought me into politics.”

The Government clashed publicly on Tuesday with the DUP over Brexit and the future of the Belfast Agreement, with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar rejecting suggestions the agreement could be changed to accommodate Brexit. Mrs May had wanted the DUP to accept that Northern Ireland would remain more regulatory aligned with the EU as a Brexit backstop. “We want to see that spirit.”

Meanwhile, Mrs May is facing calls to clarify the UK Government’s policy on the border – after Chancellor Philip Hammond warned the Conservative Party conference that a ‘no-deal’ outcome was likely to lead to a hard border. BIRMINGHAM, England (Reuters) - The leader of the Northern Irish party which props up Prime Minister Theresa May’s government said she would look at any new offer to the European Union on the Irish border, but Northern Ireland must leave on the same terms as rest of Britain. “We always said that we have just the one red line - we cannot be separated from the rest of the United Kingdom, from a constitutional position and also from an economic reason as well.”

Meanwhile, the DUP’s Jeffrey Donaldson said fixation on the Irish backstop is getting in the way of a deal that would be good for everyone. Stressing the party’s unwillingness to give ground on the issue, the DUP leader said: “The red line is blood red, it is very red.”

Mrs Foster has insisted that British Prime Minister Theresa May needs to show her any new proposals on the Irish border before presenting them to the EU, but she declined to state whether her party would vote against the Government if she considered any proposals unacceptable.
DUP leader Arlene Foster says that extra border checks between Northern Ireland and Great Britain are the "one red line" for her party.