Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May walks through the conference centre on the third day of the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham, Britain, October 2, 2018. REUTERS/Toby Melville

BIRMINGHAM, England (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Tuesday she was continuing to work on a new proposal for the so-called Northern Irish backstop when asked whether comments by her partners in parliament, the DUP, would prevent that from happening.

Earlier, Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) warned Brussels the European Union cannot be allowed to “annex” the province by having it accept different regulations from those that apply in the rest of the United Kingdom.

“We are continuing to work on that new offer and we will put a new offer before the European Commission,” May told ITV news.

“This concept of introducing no changes in that regulatory environment without the consent of the people of Northern Ireland was in that December joint report,” she said, referring to a report agreed by Britain and the EU on a backstop plan to prevent a return to a hard border between Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland.