The Prime Minister has faced calls to deliver certainty on Brexit as she met businesses in Northern Ireland.

Theresa May urged MPs to act in the national interest in the December 11 vote on her draft withdrawal agreement with the EU.

It was a message aimed at her erstwhile DUP allies, whose 10 MPs are pledged to vote against her, and all parliamentarians opposed to the agreement.

Civic representatives in Belfast also gave Mrs May the clear message to move on and develop the future, she said, during her trip to Queen’s University on Tuesday afternoon.

Brexit
Theresa May meets Nora Smith, chief executive of CO3, at Queen’s University Belfast

The DUP is promising to vote against the draft EU withdrawal deal, a serious blow to the confidence and supply agreement between the Government and the Northern Irish party.

The Prime Minister said: “I will be talking to my DUP colleagues, as I will be talking to colleagues in the House of Commons and across the House of Commons, of the importance of this vote for the UK, for the future of the UK, for the future of jobs for their constituents, for the future security of their constituents, this is a deal that protects those issues but also delivers on the Brexit vote.”

She added: “The alternative is more uncertainty and more division, and that is a very clear message that we have got here in Northern Ireland but have had elsewhere as well, that people do not want to return to uncertainty and division.”

She said her draft agreement with the EU delivered on the Brexit vote in a fashion that protected jobs, livelihood and security.

“I believe if this deal does not go though on December the 11th what we will see is a return to division and uncertainty.

“The message I have clearly heard here today from across the board, from the voluntary sector, from young people, from businesses, from the cultural sector, from academics, is the importance of that certainty and the importance of Parliament accepting that deal so we can move on to develop our future.”

The DUP is concerned about the Irish border backstop arrangement to ensure frictionless trade, and opposes Northern Ireland diverging from the rest of the UK.

The party’s 10 MPs are pledged to join Labour, the SNP and many Conservative MPs in voting against the proposed withdrawal deal.

Sinn Fein has seven MPs but does not take its seats at Westminster and abstains from votes. It has been broadly supportive of the Prime Minister’s draft deal.

Mrs May said the actions of its MPs was a matter for Sinn Fein.

“What my job is about is showing those MPs who will be voting on December 11 on this deal why it is a good deal for the UK.”

US President Donald Trump has said her Brexit plan could hurt UK/US trade relations.

Mrs May said the UK would be able to do free trade deals after Brexit and the political declaration as part of EU withdrawal made clear the UK would have an independent trade policy and be able to do deals around the world.

The Prime Minister, asked about the use of the Irish border backstop, said: “What arrangements we put in place in the UK for determining whether there should be any regulatory divergence is actually a matter for us.

“There already is regulatory divergence today between Northern Ireland and Great Britain in some limited areas.

“There is, I hope, some reassurance there, but I am looking at what reassurance I can give that you would not see that extra regulatory divergence that everyone is concerned about.

“We have that regulatory divergence today.

“We are one UK, but there is an acceptance of the particular position of Northern Ireland in the regulations as they are applied today.”