Arlene Foster has said she doesn't believe the North needs to stay within the Customs Union to have a free flow of trade with Ireland.

The DUP leader's comments reiterate what British Prime Minister Theresa May said earlier, when she announced she's absolutely determined to leave the European Union customs union and the single market.

Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr show Arlene Foster called on the EU to bring a more practical approach to tackling the issue.

Mrs Foster said the DUP did not believe that the UK needed to stay in the customs union to have "free flow between ourselves and the Republic of Ireland".

"In August of last year, the government put forward various proposals," she said.

"We were disappointed there was not the engagement from the European Union at that time.

"What we would like to see from the European Union is less rhetoric and actually more engagement in relation to the pragmatic way forward."

“We’d like to see real sharing and not a gesture sharing” with Sinn Fein says @DUPleader Arlene Foster #marr pic.twitter.com/F7LQ9X92yc

— The Andrew Marr Show (@MarrShow) May 6, 2018