DUP Urges May for Better Brexit Deal, Doubts Draft Accord Can Pass Commons Vote

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Arlene Foster, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), has stated that the draft Brexit deal endorsed by the UK Cabinet and Brussels would not pass the vote in the House of Commons, and a better one was needed.

'Let us not waste time on this deal where there is no enthusiasm and it's very clear to me that it is not going to get support in the House of Commons. Let us look for a better deal', Foster told the BBC Radio 4 broadcaster.

The DUP leader stressed that a better deal should be good not just for Great Britain but for Northern Ireland as well.

'We, of course, are speaking to colleagues in the Conservative Party and indeed wider right across Westminster to try and find that better deal', Foster noted.

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Foster's own party could play an important role in the vote: in 2017, the DUP agreed to back the minority Conservative government when the elections resulted in a hung parliament. Foster said last week that her party's 10 members of the House of Commons would not vote for the draft agreement, adding that the DUP would review its agreement with the Conservatives if the deal passed the vote.

The party's chief concerns are linked to the backstop solution for Northern Ireland, which would see all of the United Kingdom remain in a customs union with the European Union. However, Northern Ireland would be subject to separate regulations as well, which could lead to more checks on some goods between the region and the rest of the United Kingdom.