Powell claims agreement was made on language act
GAY Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson has said it is “pretty awful” same-sex marriage is banned in Northern Ireland.
Speaking at a fringe event at the Conservative Party Conference, she was asked how she felt about her party “getting into bed” with the DUP in order to run a minority government.
“I’m not sure Arlene Foster would be comfortable with the idea of getting into bed with me,” said Ms Davidson.
The MSP added that she sought assurances from Theresa May that progress on gay rights would not be diverted by her £1bn deal with the Northern Ireland party.
At the event Ms Davidson told Tories they needed to “man up” and get over their “nervous breakdown” following Mrs May’s general election humiliation.
A popular figure within the party, she played down the prospect of succeeding Mrs May at Number 10, saying instead she was focused on overthrowing Nicola Sturgeon as Scotland’s First Minister, as being Prime Minister appeared to be the “loneliest job in the world”.
The Tories won 13 seats in Scotland, having gone into the election with just one, and Ms Davidson said while the issue of protecting the Union was an important factor in that success, she also avoided the mistakes made by Mrs May’s campaign south of the border.
“I was able to write my own manifesto that didn’t involve things like taking winter fuel allowance off old people or asking to reform social care without being able to explain to people why it is,” she said. “You can’t pitch roll a major policy shift three weeks into an election campaign, it doesn’t work.”
Scottish Tory MPs are learning to operate as a bloc at Westmin- ster, and because Mrs May does not have a majority, they can wield influence over the Prime Minister, something Ms Davidson suggested would result in extra funding for Scotland.
Chancellor Philip Hammond had acknowledged they were “assertive”, and Ms Davidson said she was “looking forward to hearing the Budget”.
Meanwhile, the Defence Secretary will say today that a £1bn package for the Navy will allow warships to spend more time at sea defending Britain’s interests in the face of increasing threats.
Last week Sir Michael Fallon announced that one of the Royal Navy’s new warships will be named HMS Belfast as he declared that “huge opportunities” lie ahead for local shipbuilder Harland & Wolff.
Support for different types of ships will be brought together to improve efficiency, Sir Michael will tell the conference.
The move will bring together £1bn worth of contracts from within the existing defence budget, including deals to maintain the new Queen Elizabeth aircraft carriers.
Sir Michael will say: “This new deal will support the Royal Navy as we prepare to welcome two huge new aircraft carriers, two new classes of frigates and new support ships. We are growing the Royal Navy and ensuring that our warships will spend more time out at sea defending Britain’s interests.
“As threats intensify, only under the Conservatives will Britain be a global leader in defence and by investing in our armed forces — through our rising defence budget — we are helping keep people safe at home while working with allies abroad.” NEGOTIATIONS that paved the way for the first Sinn Fein/ DUP-led devolved government at Stormont produced a very clear agreement to protect Irish language speakers, Jonathan Powell has said.
Tony Blair’s former chief of staff said his memory of the talks leading up to the 2006 St Andrews Agreement was that, from the government’s perspective, consensus had been reached on the language issue.
An impasse over the Irish language is preventing the restoration of power-sharing at Stormont. Sinn Fein will not go back into a coalition executive with the DUP without an Irish Language Act.
The DUP, for its part, will countenance a broader culture act, that incorporates the Ulster Scots culture, but will not agree to a piece of legislation that offers protections only to the Irish language-speaking community.
Sinn Fein claims a commitment was made in the St Andrews Agreement but the DUP insists the annex that refers to an Irish Language Act represents a side-deal between the government and republicans.
Mr Powell, who was on a visit to Belfast yesterday, said that, from the Blair government’s point of view, the negotiations produced an agreement on the language issue.
“I know how vexed a political point that is here now, but my memory of the negotiations is very clear, that we, the government, had agreed to the Irish language issue,” he said.
“Now the DUP will have to interpret what happened in the negotiations in their way, but it was very clear that was agreed there as far as we were concerned.”
Mr Powell said any resolution to the current wrangle on the language issue would have to factor in the views of both unionists and republicans.
“If you are going to get to a successful agreement you are going to have to take into account what both sides want,” he said.
“It seems to me that on the republican side, the nationalist side, they are very dug in on this issue, so something will have to be done about this if they are going to find a solution.”