Share

DUP head arrives for talks with UK leader May

The Conservatives have to rely on the support of 10 DUP MPs after they fell eight seats short of winning an overall majority in the June 8 snap general election.

Advertisement

But to stay in government, May must strike a deal with a small eurosceptic Northern Irish party with 10 parliamentary seats, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

“Deal between DUP and government could be delayed until next week because of aftermath of #grenfelltower and diary commitments of both leaders”, BBC political reporter Norman Smith said on Twitter.

Mrs Foster said: “We’ve had some very good discussions today and those discussions are continuing this afternoon”.

“I can’t confirm anything yet until we know the final details of the agreement”, he said.

Brexit will likely be on the agenda at the Paris meeting, after May confirmed she will stick to the negotiating timetable.

The PM is now addressing MPs in the House of Commons after John Bercow was re-elected as Speaker.

The European Union has called on the United Kingdom to treat Brexit negotiations with a greater sense of urgency days after Prime Minister Theresa May failed to win a majority in the general election. With their support, May can make up for her own party’s shortfall by striking a so-called “confidence and supply” deal.

Davidson, who met May on Monday, wants “a shift in thinking” on Brexit, with more emphasis on the economy and less on reducing immigration numbers, a source close to her told Reuters.

British Prime Minister Theresa May is in for a hard Tuesday as she is due to hold talks with Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party to secure an informal alliance before meeting French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris.

“I think this is a tremendous opportunity not just for this party but for Northern Ireland in terms of the nation, and we’re looking forward to playing our part in that”, she said. During the election campaign, May had used the “coalition of chaos” phrase to describe what a victory for Labour would look like.

It follows the resignations of her co-chiefs of staff Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill whose abrasive style upset ministers and who were blamed by many in the party for the abysmal election campaign.

“I got us into this mess, and I’m going to get us out”, Mrs May told Conservatives MPs during the meeting in Westminster.

Next week, it is entering formal Brexit talks, regarded as its most important negotiations since the end of War World II.

May also restored former Justice Secretary Michael Gove to the Cabinet in another move created to show she was willing to listen to critics. We have worked as a party with the DUP before and those are productive talks.

But a deal with the DUP also risks destabilizing Northern Ireland by increasing the influence of pro-British unionists.

Mrs May’s rivals have also warned the government’s claimed impartiality as a mediator in the Northern Ireland political dispute would be fatally undermined by the DUP pact.

However she still faces a potentially tricky meeting the same day with DUP leader Arlene Foster to finalise a deal on propping up her minority government.

Even the idea of an alliance is complicated, however.

“It is time to stop trying to cling to power and time to admit enough is enough”, said Mr Farron, who branded the possible Tory-DUP deal as a “MayDUP government”.

The stakes for May are high.

Passing the Queen’s Speech – which is written by ministers and presents an outline of its planned legislation for the next Parliamentary session – will be the first major test of Theresa May’s proposed minority government.If the government was defeated, it would be tantamount to a vote of no confidence.

Advertisement

Labour’s unexpectedly strong second-place showing has thrown national politics into disarray.

UK election winners and losers. AFP