Democratic Unionist Party's deputy leader says, Northern Ireland cannot have economic barriers with UK

Northern Ireland cannot accept economic barriers between its territory and the rest of the United Kingdom, the deputy leader of the province's Democratic Unionist Party told BBC radio on Friday.

"It's important ... that there are no economic barriers put up, tariffs, checks or anything else between one part of the United Kingdom and the other," said Nigel Dodds, whose DUP props up Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservatives in parliament.

Separately, the European Union's Brexit negotiators told national diplomats in Brussels late on Thursday that a divorce deal with Britain was "very close", according to two sources present at the meeting.

(With inputs from agencies.)