THE DEMOCRATIC Unionist Party (DUP) has accused Theresa May of “begging” European leaders for another Brexit extension.
The British Prime Minister has held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel over a potential further extension to the deadline.
Mrs May is hoping to be granted more time to help iron out a clear and palatable plan for the UK’s exit from the European Union.
However, the DUP has hit out at the Prime Minister for her handling of the process with the party’s Westminster leader Nigel Dodds branding the move “humiliating and embarrassing”.
“The talks between the Prime Minister and the leaders of France and Germany is humiliating and embarrassing for the United Kingdom,” Mr Dodds said on Tuesday evening, the Press Association reports.
“The problems the Prime Minister is attempting to solve were not created by the decision to leave the European Union, rather the ineffective negotiations by the Prime Minister to implement that decision.
“A solution was put forward by the House of Commons on 29th January through the Brady amendment which could have charted a course by which Parliament could have supported a deal.
Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May (2R) stands with Britain's First Secretary of State Damian Green (R), Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Arlene Foster (2L), DUP Deputy Leader Nigel Dodds (L), as DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson (3L) shakes hands with Britain's Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury, and Chief Whip, Gavin Williamson, inside 10 Downing Street in central London on June 26, 2017.British Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservatives signed a deal Monday with Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party that will allow them to govern after losing their majority in a general election this month. / AFP PHOTO / POOL / Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS (Photo credit should read DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images)
“Instead of treating this proposal seriously, the Prime Minister has effectively accepted the backstop and opted not to stand up to Brussels.
“Nearly three years after the referendum the UK is today effectively holding out a begging bowl to European leaders.”
The comments come after DUP party leader Arlene Foster questioned Mrs May’s leadership of the government.
“She needed to be strong, she needed to show leadership, and I’m sorry to say that hasn’t been evident in these past couple of months,” she told the BBC.
“I find it quite painful to watch what’s going on at this present moment in time, it is rather humiliating that we are having to go and beg so that we can leave,” she said.
Talks between Mrs May, President Macron and Chancellor Merkel are ongoing.
