DUP leader Arlene Foster makes her keynote speech during the Democratic Unionist Party annual conference at the Crown Plaza Hotel on November 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland | Charles McQuillan/Getty Images DUP stick with the devil they know, for now Theresa May’s Northern Ireland allies aren’t yet ready to bring down her government.

BELFAST — Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party made it abundantly clear at their annual conference Saturday that they hate Theresa May's Brexit deal.

After a week of public criticism and tactical parliamentary voting to unsettle the government, DUP Chief Whip Jeffrey Donaldson signaled a ceasefire to POLITICO.

While the DUP has flexed its parliamentary muscles in recent days, by abstaining on Labour Party amendments to the government's Finance Bill, Donaldson said the third and final reading of the government's Finance Bill would be reached without any "difficulty,"

"We have made our point," he added.

Gathering on the outskirts of Belfast, the hard-line and pro-Brexit unionist party, whose 10 MPs have an agreement to keep May’s government in power, received plenty of reminders of the money and influence their alliance with the Conservative Party brings.

Party leaders recounted the billion pounds of extra spending attributed to the alliance and Tory big-hitters Chancellor Philip Hammond and former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson separately jetted into Belfast to urge the party not to pull the plug on the confidence-and-supply agreement it has with the Conservatives.

The text of the party's deal with the Tory Party states that the DUP will support the government on "all motions of confidence... the budget, finance bills, money bills."

Without ongoing DUP support, May's government would likely fall.

Deal still in danger

The party judges that May will have to submit to a new deal amid multipronged opposition to her deal, and will continue to oppose the current version.

The DUP’s issue is with the Irish border backstop clause inserted into the draft Withdrawal Agreement. The clause would leave Northern Ireland in a deeper customs union with Brussels than the rest of the U.K., and subject to EU single market regulation over which it has no say.

That relationship would remain in place “unless and until” a future relationship is agreed that maintains the open border with Ireland.

Nigel Dodds, the party's deputy leader, said in his conference speech the draft portrays a "pitiful and pathetic place for the United Kingdom."

"This party stands united in wanting a good deal for the United Kingdom, a deal which delivers upon the referendum result and a deal which ensures that Northern Ireland leaves with the rest of the U.K. And we will always use our votes to protect the Union … not to undermine it," he warned.

Leading Tory Brexiteer Johnson won a standing ovation for his speech which called for the U.K. to "junk the backstop."

DUP leader Arlene Foster said May's draft Withdrawal Agreement fails her own key commitments.

She created waves Saturday, telling the Times she considers Theresa May’s Brexit deal a greater threat to Northern Ireland than a U.K. led by Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn.

In another headline-making interview, with the BBC, Foster warned that the deal's moderate Brexit course "brings us to the situation of looking again at the confidence-and-supply deal."

Waiting game

The DUP spent the weekend urging May to go back to the negotiating table.

"Rather than waste any more time putting forward false choices, we need the government to get on with securing a better deal," Dodds said.

With the EU27 governments now certain to approve the Brexit deal Sunday, the question for the DUP remains whether they will help topple the government in pursuit of the deal they want.