FILE PHOTO: Leader of the DUP Arlene Foster MLA speaks at the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) annual conference in Belfast, Northern Ireland October 26, 2019. REUTERS/Lorraine O'Sullivan

BELFAST (Reuters) - Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party will not consider supporting a government led by Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, as it would be “hugely detrimental” to the United Kingdom, DUP leader Arlene Foster said on Tuesday.

The DUP has long been hostile to Corbyn because of his sympathy with Irish nationalists Sinn Fein and their goal of cutting Northern Ireland’s ties with London and joining a united Irish state.

But Labour and the DUP are united in their opposition to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s EU withdrawal agreement and if the DUP retain their 10 seats in British parliamentary elections on Dec. 12, they could be crucial in the formation of the next British government.

“We are very clear that we will not be supporting a Jeremy Corbyn-led labour party in a government, because we believe Jeremy Corbyn would ... be hugely detrimental to the united Kingdom in terms of the break up of the united kingdom,” DUP leader Arlene Foster told journalists in Belfast.

“There are many, many reasons why couldn’t in all conscience support a Jeremy Corbyn-led administration,” she said.