Democratic Unionist Party leader Arlene Foster and Nigel Dodds leave in Downing Street, London, Britain, January 17, 2019. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne

LONDON (Reuters) - The Northern Irish party which props up Prime Minister Theresa May’s government will support a proposal for the so-called Irish backstop to be replaced with other arrangements to avoid a hard border in Ireland, deputy leader Nigel Dodds said on Tuesday.

May has asked her Conservatives lawmakers to support the proposal, or amendment, when parliament votes on it on Tuesday evening, to show the European Union there is popular support in parliament for her attempt to renegotiate the deal.

“We agree that the right approach is to support the amendment,” Dodds, whose party voted against May’s deal earlier this month, told parliament.

“If we get behind the amendment ... and send the prime minister out to Brussels with that strong support behind her then we can achieve something that people have said is not possible and we can get this deal sorted out.”