May keeps Brussels waiting

IRISH PM WORRIES WHAT IMPACT ALLIANCE WITH UNIONISTS WILL HAVE ON PEACE ‘I got us into this mess, and I’m going to get us out.’

British Prime Minister Theresa May attempted to form an alliance to cling on to power before heading to Paris yesterday, leaving the EU’s dismayed Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier wondering when talks will begin.

Days after a crushing electoral result showed May had lost her parliamentary majority, the premier is due to meet Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party in a bid to gain the support of their 10 MPs.

The prospect of such a deal has already raised alarm in Dublin, where Prime Minister Enda Kenny has warned of the impact on peace in the British province, while the DUP’s ultraconservative exit views have also prompted criticism.

Ahead of the start of talks, Michael Gove, agriculture and environment minster, said aligning with Arlene Foster’s DUP was aimed at “strengthening” the UK.

“My understanding is that the DUP, like the Conservative Party, has a shared interest in making sure we have a stable government,” he told BBC radio.

While the details of the proposed deal are yet to be made public, the ruling Conservatives have said a loose alliance is expected rather than a formal coalition government.

Foster said her party would go into the talks “with the national interest at heart”.

May has dismissed calls to resign following the dismal election result and on Monday faced her MPs and vowed to govern.

“I got us into this mess, and I’m going to get us out,” she told her Conservative MPs.

In calling a general election three years early, May had hoped to boost her slim majority ahead of Brexit talks starting later this month.

But a lacklustre campaign saw her high approval rating slip away and support for her “hard Brexit” strategy – pulling out of the European single market and customs union – now hangs in the balance.

As May attempts to cobble together a majority, the EU’s Barnier was scheduled to hold talks with British envoy Olly Robbins yesterday to organise the negotiations. – AFP