DUP agreement remains says Tory leader, but she’s less clear on its future
THERESA May has said her party’s ‘confidence and supply’ agreement with the DUP is still in place — but declined to clarify in Belfast yesterday whether or not the remainder of the £1bn promised for Northern Ireland in the deal will still be paid if it collapses.
DUP leader Arlene Foster has already confirmed that her party’s 10 MPs will vote against the draft EU Withdrawal Agreement on December 11, putting it on course to violate the terms of the deal, which requires the DUP to support the government on legislation related to the UK’s exit from the EU.
It’s understood that around £430m has already been delivered so far.
Asked whether the rest of the funding is safe during a visit to Queen’s University, Belfast the Prime Minister simply sounded out a plea for all MPs intent on voting down the draft deal. “Every MP needs to think about the national interest, about delivering on the Brexit vote, but also on the impact their decision will have on jobs, and their constituent’s livelihoods,” she said.
While she confirmed that the confidence and supply agreement continues for now, she was less clear on its future after December 11.
“I will be talking to my DUP colleagues as I will be talking to colleagues across the House of Commons of the importance of this vote for the future of the UK.”
But on the December 11 vote, she repeated: “I think it’s incumbent on every member of Parliament to think about the impact of that decision they will be taking on their constituents and on their constituents’ futures.”
Visiting both Wales and Northern Ireland yesterday, the Prime Minister said she wanted to listen to the views of people right across the UK on the draft deal. Ahead of meeting the five main parties in Stormont, Mrs May visited Queen’s University, where she met with 60 people from the world of business, education, religion and wider civic society. The event involved Mrs May and Secretary of State Karen Bradley, rotating around eight round tables over the course of one hour, answering questions posed by the delegates. After-
wards she said: “The message I clearly heard here today from across the board, from the voluntary sector, from young people, from businesses, from the agricultural sector, from academics, is the importance of that certainty and the importance of Parliament accepting this deal so we can move on to develop our future.
“The message I am giving and one of the reasons I wanted to get out and about is to hear from members of the public, to hear from businesses, to hear from the third sector and others about their views on this deal.
“All Members of Parliament represent their constituents and they need, when they come to this vote, to think about the impact of this vote and of this decision on their constituents.”
Professor David Phinnemore, who specialises in European politics at QUB, was among those who took part.
“People certainly got the opportunity to raise the questions that they had and express a range of views,” he said. “There were a lot of different voices raising a range of different questions at their various table discussions with the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State.”
President of Queen’s Students Union, Connor Veighey raised a number of issues with the PM including research funding from the EU and the Erasmus exchange programme.
“This was a great opportunity to represent students at the highest level and it was great to put questions directly to the Prime Minister,” he said. “The question of course is whether or not the points we raised were really taken on board.”
The Prime Minister was met with a same-sex marriage rally on her arrival at the front of Queen’s University.
The protest was organised by Love Equality NI, who have called on Mrs May to legislate for same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland.