Hundreds rally to blast DUP plans
FURIOUS protesters descended on Downing Street yesterday to demand Theresa May scraps plans for a coalition with the DUP.
Chants of “racist, sexist, anti-gay, the DUP has got to go” rang out outside the struggling Prime Minister’s office as she tried to hammer out a deal with the Northern Irish party.
One of the hundreds of protesters held a sign saying “Pray the DUP away” – a reference to the party’s evangelical Christian views on issues including abortion, gay rights and evolution. Labour voter Luke O’Neill, 27, said: “I’ve never seen people more hateful in my life.” Mrs May, 60, has been forced to seek a coalition with the Ulster politicians after a shock election result which saw her win just 318 seats.
The Northern Irish party, founded by firebrand preacher Ian Paisley in 1971, was notorious for anti-Catholic bigotry during the Troubles.
The Rev Paisley was famously ejected from the European Parliament for heckling the Pope in 1988.
In 2007 the DUP began sharing power with Sinn Fein in Parliament, but the following year then party leader Peter Robinson’s MP wife Iris branded homosexuality an “abomination” and said that gays were “viler” than paedophiles. Meanwhile, former DUP politician and ex-Northern Irish environment minister Sammy Wilson branded global warming a “con”.
Today, the party’s current leader Arlene Foster is more socially progressive. But she triggered a collapse of the Northern Irish election earlier this year over her involvement in a flop £400million renewable energy scheme. Pro-Brexit Mrs Foster wants to retain freedom of movement and trade links with the EU, which could end Mrs May’s desire for a hard Brexit.
They could also demand that Northern Ireland keeps its anti-abortion laws and that gay marriage is not legal.
Pundits also believe Mrs Foster will demand cash for improved public services.