The DUP has held 'constructive' talks with British government ministers on Brexit but says the backstop remains its 'key problem'
The DUP has said the Irish backstop remains its "key problem" with the Brexit agreement reached between British Prime Minister Theresa May and the European Union.
"From day one, our focus has been on the red line of how Northern Ireland is treated separately from the rest of the UK. European Council President Donald Tusk is meeting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte in The Hague today before talks with the bloc's key power brokers Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron on Monday.
"What is really important to us and to the European Union is that we are all clear what that extension period is for and that the availability of that extension period doesn't in any way heighten the kind of economic risk that we are trying to avoid at the moment," Mr Donohoe said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in London.
Mrs May 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. The Attorney General's advice hinges on Article 62 of the Vienna Convention, which says that if there has been "a fundamental change of circumstances" following the conclusion of a treaty "which was not foreseen by the parties", then the countries involved would be allowed to withdraw from it.
The motion authorising the prime minister to request an extension to the two-year Article 50 negotiation process, was passed by 413 votes to 202 - a majority of 211.
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