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The DUP has branded Brexit talks with the Government as \u201cconstructive\u201d<\/p>\nThe DUP has branded Brexit talks with the Government as \u201cconstructive\u201d<\/p>\n
The move comes as Theresa May battles to build support for her EU withdrawal deal.<\/p>\n
The Prime Minister knows that winning support from the DUP could lead to her deal being approved by the Commons next week, after it was rejected for the second time on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Following the top level discussions, DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds said: \u201cWe have had a long series of discussions with a series of Cabinet ministers today.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have had a constructive dialogue. Those discussions will continue over the coming period of time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked if extra cash for Northern Ireland had been discussed with Chancellor Philip Hammond, Mr Dodds said: \u201cThe Chancellor of the Exchequer is obviously a key member of the Government, but he is also responsible for HMRC and the whole issue of their involvement in customs and other regulatory issues is a key concern for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other ministers involved in the talks included David Lidington, Michael Gove and Julian Smith, he said.<\/p>\n
Mr Dodds said: \u201cWe are not discussing cash in these discussions.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the DUP agreed to prop up Mrs May\u2019s Government in a confidence and supply agreement in 2017, the party secured an extra \u00a31 billion in funding for Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
Mr Dodds said the Government was now \u201cvery focused\u201d on addressing the issue of the Northern Ireland backstop.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cFrom day one, our focus has been on the red line of how Northern Ireland is treated separately from the rest of the UK.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is the issue that has been the priority concern for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The talks come as European leaders consider whether to agree to UK calls for Britain\u2019s departure to be delayed.<\/p>\n
MPs backed a bid to push back Brexit beyond the scheduled date of March 29 in dramatic parliamentary scenes which saw a majority of the Conservative party in the opposite lobby from the Prime Minister.<\/p>\n
Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay, who voted against the Government motion requesting an Article 50 extension, told the BBC: \u201cThere were two parts of the motion, a short technical extension which we need with the deal, and we are pushing that.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s separate from whether you just have a long extension, rather than no deal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Barclay added: \u201cWe need a deal. We need to get that over the line.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut, if we don\u2019t have a deal, then we should leave with no deal.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s always been my position, and I voted as the constituency would expect me to do last night.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we get the deal through as I hope we still will, we will now need a short, technical extension.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut, if not, we shouldn\u2019t be afraid to leave with no deal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former Cabinet minister Esther McVey suggested Brexiteers could back Mrs May\u2019s deal next week in order to make sure the UK leaves the EU.<\/p>\n
She told BBC Radio 4\u2019s Political Thinking with Nick Robinson podcast: \u201cThe element now is that people will have to take a bad deal rather than no deal.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cThey\u2019ll know it\u2019s a rubbish a deal. They didn\u2019t believe and neither would I have believed \u2013 having got warm words from people in authority \u2018we will do this\u2019, and remember the 100-plus times \u2018we will be out on March 29\u2019 \u2013 absolutely not.<\/p>\n
\u201cRemember those words \u2018we will not be part of the customs union, the single market\u2019, all of those red lines.<\/p>\n
\u201cWould you have believed they would have been broken, not adhered to and then run the clock down and not go back with a negotiating hand to change it?\u201d<\/p>\n
She added that people would have to \u201cthink a different way next week\u201d.<\/p>\n
Any Brexit delay will require the agreement of the other 27 European Union members, with talks about any conditions for an extension set to begin before leaders gather at a summit next week.<\/p>\n
European Council president Donald Tusk met Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte in The Hague on Friday, before talks with the bloc\u2019s key power brokers Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron on Monday.<\/p>\n
Following the talks, Mr Rutte said the current Withdrawal Agreement is the \u201conly deal on the table.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Tusk said: \u201cI will appeal to the EU27 to be open to a long extension if the UK finds it necessary to rethink its Brexit strategy and build consensus around it.\u201d<\/p>\n
But European Parliament Brexit co-ordinator Guy Verhofstadt questioned why the leaders of the 27 should grant an extension if Mrs May was \u201cnot ready for a cross-party approach to break the current deadlock\u201d in the Commons.<\/p>\n
The Prime Minister is set to bring her Brexit deal back to the Commons for a third meaningful vote next week, and Attorney General Geoffrey Cox has sought to provide further legal assurances about the Irish backstop.<\/p>\n
But Mrs May\u2019s hopes of persuading Eurosceptics and the DUP to back the deal were dealt a blow after the \u201cStar Chamber\u201d of Brexiteer lawyers rejected Mr Cox\u2019s latest assessment.<\/p>\n