Brexit Deal in Doubt After Boris Johnson’s Northern Irish Allies Reject Current Plan
Brexit Deal in Doubt After Boris Johnson’s Northern Irish Allies Reject Current Plan
Boris Johnson’s Northern Irish allies warned they will not support his proposed Brexit deal, putting chances of an agreement in fresh doubt. The pound fell.
Despite the progress made between European Union and U.K. negotiators in Brussels, the Democratic Unionist Party, which props up Johnson’s administration, raised concerns over three key sticking points.
These are: new arrangements for dealing with customs checks on goods crossing the the U.K.-Irish border; the mechanism for giving Northern Irish politicians a veto over those arrangements; and a lack of clarity on how to institute sales tax in the region.
“We have been involved in ongoing discussions with the Government,” DUP leader Arlene Foster said in a joint statement with her colleague Nigel Dodds. “As things stand, we could not support what is being suggested.”
The DUP’s support is seen as important to Johnson’s chances of getting a deal ratified in the U.K. parliament. The party said it would continue to work with Johnson to seek an agreement.
The pound, which surged earlier this week on growing hopes of a deal, fell as much as 0.6% to $1.2750.
To contact the reporter on this story: Tim Ross in London at tross54@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Flavia Krause-Jackson at fjackson@bloomberg.net, Richard Bravo
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