N. Irish party will back proposed amendment that will make EU’s backstop proposal illegal

The Northern Irish party which props up British Prime Minister Theresa May will back an amendment proposed by rebel Brexiteer lawmakers that will effectively make the European Union’s backstop proposal illegal, a Telegraph newspaper reporter said.

Brexit talks have stalled over a disagreement on the so-called Northern Irish “backstop”, an insurance policy to ensure there will be no return to a hard border on the island of Ireland if a future trading relationship is not agreed in time. May has rejected the EU’s proposal – for Northern Ireland to remain in the bloc’s customs union – as it would potentially create barriers to trade with the rest of Britain.

Meanwhile Brexiteers have pledged their “full support” to Theresa May in the wake of a series of furious briefings over the weekend against her, with one Tory MP reportedly saying that the moment is coming when “the knife gets heated, stuck in her front and twisted”.

Iain Duncan Smith said the hostile rhetoric had “nothing to do with our politics [and] nothing to do with this issue”. The former Conservative party leader suggested that whoever was responsible “needs to have the fullest weight of the Conservative Party on them”. And he indicated that he had “always” fully supported Mrs May – “that’s it, full stop”.

The senior Conservative Brexiteer was speaking to reporters in Brussels after meeting with Michel Barnier to discuss with him the ideas put forward by the European Research Group to solve the Irish border question. Fellow Tory Brexiteer Theresa Villiers, an outspoken critic of the Prime Minister’s Chequers plan, has said the language used about her by critics has been “disturbing”.

A spokesman for Mrs May told reporters that she “has always been very clear that we must set a tone in public discourse that is neither dehumanising nor derogatory. Personal vitriol has no place in our politics.”

This comes after a senior cabinet ally of Mrs May urged Tory MPs this morning to have “calm, level heads” amid increasing tensions in the Conservative ranks about her handling of the Brexit negotiations.