DUP takes time and withholds judgment on Northern Ireland deal

theguardian.com:

The Democratic Unionist party (DUP) has withheld judgment on the deal to end the dispute over the post-Brexit Northern Ireland protocol, leaving the fate of power-sharing in the region hanging in the balance.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson welcomed “significant progress” in the UK-EU deal announced on Monday but cautioned that concerns remained and said the party would take time to analyse the text.

“In broad terms it is clear that significant progress has been secured across a number of areas while also recognising there remain key issues of concern. There can be no disguising the fact that in some sectors of our economy EU law remains applicable in Northern Ireland.”

The party would take time to study the detail and measure the text of the deal against the party’s “seven tests”, Donaldson tweeted.

The carefully worded response left the party’s options open and Downing Street guessing over whether it will endorse or oppose the deal.

But Ian Paisley – the North Atrim MP and son of the former DUP leader and former first minister with the same first name) delivered a much more critical verdict, telling the BBC journalist Nicholas Watt that the deal “does not cut the mustard”.

The DUP response is crucial as it will decide the fate of the Stormont assembly and executive, which have been mothballed since last year by a DUP boycott, and also influence some Conservative MPs in an eventual Westminster vote.

Business leaders and most ordinary people in Northern Ireland wish to draw a line under disputes over the protocol but Donaldson is under pressure from hardline DUP factions, and unionist rivals outside the party, to reject any deal that gives Brussels a say over Northern Ireland.

Donaldson may try to sell the deal as a victory and validation