DUP warns to oppose Brexit unless backstop arrangement not removed

The Northern Irish party which props up Prime Minister Theresa May's government bluntly warned it would vote against her Brexit deal unless the backstop arrangement was removed from it.

The Democratic Unionist Party's Brexit spokesman Sammy Wilson cast as "window dressing" British proposals to give the Northern Irish assembly the power to vote against new EU rules if the border backstop comes into force after Brexit.

"The only thing which could swing the DUP round is if the backstop as it applies to the United Kingdom as a whole or to Northern Ireland specifically were removed from this agreement," Wilson said. He said there was not a cigarette paper between his views and the views of other DUP lawmakers.

(With inputs from agencies.)