ENTER THE NEW POWER BROKERS
Tories seek deal with DUP but row erupts over unionists’ policy on gay rights
THERESA MAY’S deal with the Democratic Unionist Party came under immediate fire yesterday – from within her own party.
Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Conservative leader, bluntly showed her opposition by tweeting out of the blue a link to a gay pride speech she gave in Belfast last year.
Miss Davidson, who is gay, said in her tweet: ‘As a Protestant Unionist about to marry an Irish Catholic, here’s the Amnesty Pride lecture I gave in Belfast.’
The message was posted just before 3pm yesterday just as the DUP’s leader Arlene Foster led a press conference which confirmed they were talking to the Conservatives about a deal.
Miss Davidson stopped short of direct criticism of the DUP, but her tweet was a clear indication she will find it difficult to see her party co-operating with a party which has views on equality which clash with her own.
Elsewhere, critics were asking if an alliance with the Tories would enable to DUP – which has been accused of regressive, homophobic and misogynistic policies – to introduce policies that have become controversial in Northern Ireland.
The party has repeatedly vetoed marriage equality for same- sex couples in Ulster and has limited enthusiasm for LBGT rights.
The DUP doesn’t mention abortion in its manifesto, but it has been open in its support for Northern Ireland’s abortion ban, which sees women imprisoned for having one and denied access to safe and legal terminations.
Mrs Foster has said the party remains opposed to any reform of the province’s strict abortion laws, urging last year that she would ‘not want abortion to be as freely available here as it is in England’.
Some DUP members have made overt criticism of homosexuality. Ian Paisley Jr, son of the party’s founder, has in the past said he was ‘repulsed’ by gay people and called homosexuality ‘ immoral, offensive and obnoxious’. The party once supported a campaign called ‘Save Ulster from Sodomy’.
The DUP is also sceptical of climate change, while some members are creationists, believing the Old Testament’s description of how God created the Earth rather than backing theories such as evolution.
The Tories’ failure to secure a majority has handed huge power to Mrs Foster, who said she would ‘enter discussions’ on a deal. But her position as kingmaker raised questions about what concessions she would seek to extract from Mrs May in return for support.
The DUP supports cuts to corporation tax, air passenger duty and VAT on tourism to compete with the low-tax Republic. But it also wants to continue winter fuel payments for the elderly and keep the pensions ‘triple lock’.
Crucially, the party’s position on Brexit is aligned with Mrs May’s – it backs leaving the single market, agreeing a trade deal and ending rule by EU judges. It also opposes a ‘hard border’ between the province and the Republic.
The agreement will not be like the formal coalition under the Conservatives and Lib Dems after 2010. Instead, it is likely to be a ‘confidence and supply’ arrangement where DUP MPs will vote for Government legislation.
However, Tony Blair’s former chief of staff Jonathan Powell, a key architect of the Northern Ireland peace process, said the move was a ‘very big mistake’ and would stop the UK Government being a neutral party. ‘It may have the effect of undoing the 20 years of good work we’ve done in Northern Ireland,’ he told the BBC.
‘They’ve made themselves dependent on the DUP. Since 1991, for good reasons, the British government has always been neutral in Northern Ireland, we’ve not taken sides between the Unionists and the Nationalists and Republicans.
‘By doing this Theresa May has made herself a hostage to the DUP, which means that she cannot be the independent mediator between the two sides.’
Mrs Foster, the former Northern Ireland First Minister, suggested on election night that Mrs May would have to stand down. But in a statement yesterday afternoon, she opened the door to a deal with Mrs May.
Jeremy Corbyn’s close links to Irish Republican terrorists makes a deal with Labour impossible, DUP sources said.
Mrs Foster said she made ‘ no apology’ for trying to get the ‘best deal’ for Northern Ireland. This was seen as a sign she would seek to extract painful financial concessions from the Government.
She added: ‘Those who want to tear apart the union that we cherish and benefit from so hugely have been sent a clear and resounding message. In the days and weeks ahead, it is that union that will be to the forefront of our minds.’
The election saw DUP seats increase from eight to ten. Sinn Fein also emerged stronger, while the Ulster Unionists and SDLP were wiped off the map. Sinn Fein’s seven MPs are not part of calculations to form a government because the party refuses to take its seats in Westminster. That position was confirmed yesterday.