Is the latest Brexit deal news leaving the DUP out in the cold?

A confirmed positive turn of events in the Brexit saga could get nasty yet

News from BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg that May and Raab will be announcing “A moment of decisive progress” on Brexit on Thursday looks positive on the outside but persistent comments of a no deal from the DUP could be unsettling.

At several points today, the DUP have come out with comments saying that a no deal is likely at this point, most recently, a few minutes after the above story broke. The DUP’s leader Arlene Foster spoke to Ulster TV saying that if the current rhetoric continues, we’re heading for a no deal. That’s troubling because all we’ve heard this week is that things are going well. We know the Irish border situation is not fully solved but if there was broadly good news, the DUP would be all over it. That could suggest there’s something in the current deal that the DUP don’t like, or that they’re not in the loop yet, which is also hard to imagine.

While the DUP are helping prop up May’s government, by adding their seats to the Conservatives to give them the majority, (if I’ve got my politics right) May doesn’t necessarily need their vote in Parliament to get her Brexit deal agreed. There’s going to be a lot of cross party number juggling in the “meaningful vote”. However, if May crosses the line with the DUP, that will almost certainly spell the end of the DUP’s support and thus May could lose her majority moving forward after this Brexit deal is agreed.

I may be making more of this than I should be, and it could just be that the DUP haven’t been filled in yet but that in itself is strange as they’re front and centre of the border issue. It’s probably a case of ‘watch this space’ but it could present some negative risk to May and whatever announcement is supposedly coming. If the DUP do happen to be on board with what’s going on, then it’s chocks away on May’s plans.