DUP leader Arlene Foster will meet the European Union's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels today.
She will be joined by the DUP's member of the European Parliament Diane Dodds, as well as pro-Brexit Conservative Party MPs - former leader Iain Duncan Smith and former Northern Ireland secretary Owen Patterson.
Mrs Foster will again outline her objections to the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement negotiated by British Prime Minister Theresa May because it includes a backstop provision which she says is unacceptable to Northern Ireland unionists.
In advance of her trip to Brussels, the DUP leader has again criticised the negotiating strategy of Mrs May, accusing her of trying to force people into a cul-de-sac where they have no option but to support her deal.
She said: "This is a useful opportunity to once again set out why we oppose the Withdrawal Agreement and urge the EU's chief negotiator to acknowledge the concerns of those we represent in Northern Ireland by making the changes outlined by parliament on 29 January.
"We want to see a sensible deal which works for every part of the United Kingdom and respects the referendum result. However, we cannot settle for a deal which would undermine the economic and constitutional integrity of the United Kingdom."
She said the EU had consistently ignored the views of unionists who do not want a new border erected between Northern Ireland the rest of the UK.
She said the British Prime Minister should recognise that the decision to leave the EU is not the problem but rather the ham-fisted manner in which the negotiations have taken place.
