Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland

Leaked letter has given game away on Irish backstop. But DUP are not fools. How can they trust May’s assurances now?

Holyrood backs a People’s Vote. So do Birmingham, Belfast, Liverpool and Swansea councils. It’s Westminster that’s out of touch.

Brexit will damage Scotland. 59% of Scots want a People’s Vote, 63% want to stay in EU. Scotland must play a leading role in the campaign.

Rejecting a backstop agreement means no Brexit deal, and falling back on WTO rules. They would enforce creation of a hard border in Ireland.

Remaining 5% includes Irish border for which May still has no good answer. And this is still all just the first phase of the Brexit process.

Boris Johnson, Arlene Foster et al dismissed concerns about border out of hand in 2016. The wilful ignorance is breathtaking.

May needs her 13 Scottish MPs to get Brexit through. Their intervention is reminder that they have their own specific Brexit conundrum.

Arlene Foster’s “blood red line” of an Irish Sea border may be a bitter pill for the DUP to swallow, but it is not something entirely new.

SNP MPs would “undoubtedly” support a People’s Vote in Parliament, Nicola Sturgeon told BBC ahead of party conference.

Party’s new leader Adam Price has firmly aligned his party with opposition to Brexit by all possible means.

It could denounce growing chaos of talks, call to stop Brexit and argue for a People’s Vote. That would be strong and coherent.

Irish question is going to require further blurring of red lines. Will the DUP accept this? If there’s no deal, we’ll be even more stuck.