EUROPE needs to hear and understand unionist concerns about the backstop, Arlene Foster has said.
In a meeting in Brussels, the DUP leader told EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier that unionists in the north opposed the withdrawal agreement because of the mechanism.
She warned that the UK and EU would move "inexorably towards a no-deal scenario" if changes were not made.
Conservative MPs and fellow Brexiteers Iain Duncan Smith and former secretary of state Owen Paterson accompanied Mrs Foster to yesterday's meeting.
Mrs Foster said Prime Minister Theresa May should use the extra six months now available to her to reopen the backstop issue.
Asked whether she believed there was any prospect of the withdrawal agreement being changed in the period to October, she said: "It depends whether they want to get a deal.
"If they want to get a deal they're going to have to deal with the backstop because the only thing that has got through parliament with the majority is the fact of dealing with the backstop. And if it's dealt with in the appropriate fashion then the withdrawal agreement will go through and they will have a deal.
"But if they continue on the road of 'we are not reopening the treaty' then we are heading inexorably towards a no-deal scenario."
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Asked if she still had confidence in Mrs May after the latest Brexit extension, the DUP leader said: "Three years since the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union we should have left by now. I hope that the prime minister takes the time to look at the alternative arrangements to the backstop because the backstop is a critical issue here."
Sinn Féin deputy leader Michelle O'Neill criticised the DUP leader's remarks and highlighted that many unionists voted remain in the EU referendum.
"Those people have seen their wishes ignored by the DUP ever since as they continue to pursue a reckless Brexit agenda alongside their allies on the hard right of the Tory party," she said.
"The DUP also continue to ignore the constant warnings from our business community, our agricultural sector, universities, trade unionists and many others who have all advocated the backstop as the best way of protecting our interests from the worst impacts of Brexit."
Ireland's Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney, meanwhile, has said that a no-deal Brexit looks "less likely" now than it did a week ago.
Mr Coveney was addressing questions in the Dáil about the impact of a crash Brexit on the agricultural industry.
"I want to reassure people that if we do face a no-deal Brexit, which looks less likely today than it did last week, we will be ready to support farm families through what will be a difficult period of change and disruption," he said.
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