Foster would back a Labour government’s programme, claims McDonnell as he rules out forming a coalition

SHADOW chancellor John McDonnell has said he “would expect” the DUP to support a Labour government’s programme.

Asked whether a Labour minority government would work with the DUP following his speech in London, Mr McDonnell said: “What we’ll do is we’ll go in as a majority Labour government.

“If we were in a minority position — there’d be no deals, no pacts, no coalitions or anything like that.

“We’ll put forward our programme and we’ll implement that programme.

“It will be up to other parties to actually take their decision on what aspects of that programme they’ll support and those that they don’t.”

He added: “Over the years I have worked with individual DUP politicians.

“I can’t see them voting against the real living wage, I can’t see them voting against the levels of investment that we want to put in right the way across the country, including Northern Ireland.

“I can’t see them voting against the funding that we want to put into the NHS, education and our public services overall.

“So I would expect them to support a Labour government’s programme as we implement it.”

Mr McDonnell yesterday set out Labour plans for a budget on February 5 which he said will save the NHS, rebuild public services, and introduce a Real Living Wage of £10 per hour for all workers over 16.

In the first 100 days of a Labour government, the process of bringing water and energy into public ownership will begin, with boards set up to run the utilities.

In a speech in London, Mr McDonnell said: “I can tell you today that my first act as a chancellor will be to write to the Office for Budget Responsibility and we’ll ask them to begin their preparations for my first budget which will be given on February 5, the date when almost 10 years of cuts will come to an end.”