Arlene Foster is in Brussels today to lead a new UK offensive to clinch a Brexit deal as the end-of-autumn deadline looms.

The DUP leader and former first minister will hold an "intensive" three-day set of meetings with chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier and representatives of EU countries.

She will press the party's demand for there to be no "border" created in the Irish sea under a backstop deal between the two sides.

In a pointed message that will be heard in Downing Street, Mrs Foster said her only "red line" was carving up the UK to leave Northern Ireland in any kind of special alignment with the EU27.

"This red line is recognising that Great Britain is Northern Ireland's biggest market," she warned.


"Over 70% of all goods leaving Belfast port are destined for Great Britain.

"To create a barrier to that trade would be catastrophic.

"We want to see an exit deal which means Northern Ireland has unfettered access to and from the Great Britain market but also fully beneficiaries of any new trade deals with the United Kingdom after Brexit."

Last week, Bloomberg reported the UK was preparing to keep Northern Ireland in regulatory alignment with the rest of the EU.

Scotland's first minister says she does not want checks at the English border

Prime Minister Theresa May has promised to set out further proposals on the "backstop" arrangement aimed at avoiding a hard border with the Republic of Ireland.

Mrs Foster, whose party props up the minority Conservative government in parliament, also took aim at those waiving potential problems for the Good Friday Agreement.

"Many who claim to respect the Belfast Agreement fail to respect the principle of consent which was part of that agreement," she said.

"Indeed, they would happily redraw the border and annex Northern Ireland away from the rest of the UK."

Image: Theresa May promised to set out further proposals on the backstop

Mrs Foster and Mr Barnier have an uneasy relationship, after she accused him of being "aggressive" towards Northern Ireland unionists and not an "honest broker".

Mr Barnier said at the time of the dispute in April 2018 that he was not ready to engage in "polemics" with her.

They met the month before, when Mrs Foster flew to Brussels with a similar message - that Northern Ireland must leave the EU on the same terms as the rest of the UK.

It comes amid new research that showed high support for jeopardising peace in Northern Ireland in the name of Brexit.

Around 47% of people in England think it would be "worth it to take back control", researchers at the Centre on Constitutional Change at Edinburgh University found.