Brexit: Irish ‘backstop’ still critical issue, says DUP leader Foster

Finding a solution for the Irish border after Britain leaves the EU remains a critical issue for Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), its leader Arlene Foster said after meeting the EU’s Brexit negotiator in Brussels. “I hope the prime minister takes the time to look at the alternative arrangements to the backstop because the backstop is the critical issue,” DUP leader Foster told reporters outside the European Commission on Thursday. The statement came hours after EU leaders extended Britain’s Brexit deadline, Reuters said. “We believe that [British PM Theresa May] needs to look at that again and she should come out here very strongly and say that the backstop is the issue,” Foster said.