The leader of Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Arlene Foster (pictured) stated on Tuesday that the text of the preliminary Brexit deal between the United Kingdom and the European Union came as "a big shock" to her party, which provides support to Theresa May's minority government in Westminster. In an interview to the Irish RTE News, Foster added that once her party saw the text of the draft agreement they "knew it was not going to be acceptable," since DUP would not settle with any kind of regime in Northern Ireland that is different from the rest of the UK.
Foster thus confirmed allegations that it was the DUP, Northern Ireland's largest unionist party, that vetoed the Brexit deal yesterday, despite reports of a breakthrough in the EU-UK negotiations. Foster stated that she told Prime Minister May that the DUP would not provide their votes to any Brexit legislation in the House of Commons unless the text presented yesterday was changed.
