Britain’s frantic efforts to negotiate a Brexit agreement with the European Union hit a last-minute snag on Thursday morning, after Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party said it could not support the deal “as things stand.”
The statement, hours before Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain was to present the deal to European leaders at a summit meeting in Brussels, suggested that British domestic politics once again threatened to torpedo a complex negotiation in the 11th hour.
It was not clear whether the Northern Ireland party simply wanted to make a show of holding out for its position before ultimately acquiescing — or whether Mr. Johnson faced a serious rebellion from the skeptics in his ranks.
But the sudden setback rattled the financial markets, with the British pound falling to $1.27 and 1.15 euros on the news, after having surged earlier this week on optimism that a deal was finally in sight.