Thread by @Ocionnaith

I've gone back and transcribed the Arlene Foster doorstep. The key points (she has opened the window slightly for a "unique" arrangement for NI and for a tweaking of the backstop, but only if both nationalists and unionists are onside) are below.

#Brexit #thread

Asked about possibly accepting proposals seen as "unique to NI" she basically said possibly:

"Well I think it's important, if you look at that letter of August 10 2016 (with Martin McGuinness), we did talk about were there were differences in Northern Ireland because of (cont)

(cont) "the very fact we're on an island, we do exist and will have a land border unlike the rest of UK, that was in the context of also respecting the constitutional position of NI."

Asked if backstop still has to go, she said: "Yes, I think the Prime Minister has been quite clear in his most recent letter to President Tusk that the backstop is anti-democratic, it’s unconstitutional and needs to go. That is our position.”

Asked about a "tweaked backstop to suit your needs", she said:

“Well, I think what we want to see is a sensible deal, a deal that works for us all, whatever that is called. I know people are hung-up on language during the Brexit negotiations."

And v importantly, asked specifically "is it possible to have NI only solutions that don't affect NI's constitutional position [in UK]" - effectively a backstop-light - she said:

"I hope so because what we want to see working, and the NI backstop by the way isn’t that because...

... that would bring about customs between Great Britain and NI and that is unconstitutional and undemocratic, so we couldn’t have that happening if that is where you are ging with that question.
"But I think what we want to see happening is a recognition that we are...

... on an island, we recognise that, we recognise the unique history and language if you go back to my language on the tenth of August.

“But we also have to recognise that we’re in the United Kingdom and I think sometimes people forget that."

Progress on #Brexit is like an iceberg (slow, with vast majority of it hidden below the surface), but there is definitely a slight movement in her position.

It is also similar to what UK sources have hinted at in recent days, and something that has not been shot down by Dublin.