Jeffrey Donaldson: ‘Significant’ chance of no-deal Brexit

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Well I think given the response of the Irish government in particular who I believe are key to this issue of addressing UK concerns about the backstop, I think the prospect of a no-deal is significant.”

Asked about the warnings of 40,000 job losses in Northern Ireland, he said that was at the “very high end of the scale” and he was not convinced a no-deal would result in that type of outcome.

He added: “We do recognise that no deal is not good in the short term for our economy in Northern Ireland and to be clear it’s not something we’re working towards. We’ve always been consistent in our approach on Brexit which is we want to see the UK leaving the EU with a deal, but the deal that’s on the table at the moment is clearly unacceptable, not just to us, but to a majority on three occasions in the House of Commons.”

Sir Jeffrey said: “We are clear that the problem with the Withdrawal Agreement is the backstop and it’s not just a problem for Northern Ireland, it’s a problem for the UK as a whole and we want to see a more flexible and pragmatic approach taken by the EU, we still believe it’s possible to get a deal and we are urging the EU to step forward and to discuss with the UK Government how we can achieve that.

“And I think the Prime Minister is right to take a tough line on this issue.”

He said he did not believe that people in Northern Ireland were going to vote in favour of a united Ireland.

He said: “I think the Prime Minister is right, taking a softer approach to the EU didn’t work for the last prime minister and I think that the line that the Prime Minister is taking now is one that is more likely to get us to a deal in October than the previous approach